I hate money.
If you love money i pray for you because you in always persecute those who hate money.

humans that love money serve it as a master and therefore enslaved to it… and will enslave “others” to serve their master.
if you do not understand what i just outlined, why? do we choose to “serve money”? how can money be your master if you “feel” it serves you? why do you believe it serves you? is it because you believe you made profit? did you understand the full consequences thru time all time of making that profit? then why do you feel your money serves you?

Slavery is wrong. money is created from enslavement of land, life and the “giving up” of liberties and “rights” of the “other humans”.

Inevitably those who serve money enslave their own children into it. then those children in turn “war on each other” till they die or understand the human condition under money. yet understanding it does not change a thing about the world.

money will “functionally save” you from the consequences you created with it… thus you solve a problem in the near future or present only to create a future “hate” that no human by themselves or in groups can face… for all children and all life that will bear that burden…

if you love money fear not my voice… but fear GOD… the one who created you…and the one that can uncreate you… forever….

surely a fool says there is no GOD…………………………….

David Wilkerson – Repentance;Our only Hope

History of money worship

A brief history of the worship of money using monetary history and bible scripture. Money as wealth is a form of idolatry historically with similar idolatry in the us dollar and the spiritual damnation of wealth. Origin from in cattle worship to idolized graved images.

money what is money to know where money is I say we need to look at the history
0:05money
0:06we need to look at the room %uh money
0:09what it is stored or what did the Angels call money
0:13a thousand years ago and how did we get to the point
0:16over will be used today and also
0:19money on religion has been closely tied
0:22to our history when the idea oh
0:26well start coming around is when we
0:29have the same ideas of worship come around around same top so
0:34we look at it the history %uh money and
0:38thousand years ago people looked a
0:41cattle as well for many reasons
0:44catalyst like the center under économie of course
0:48it gives you full test obvious part of it they use cattle
0:52to help out earlier to to help agriculture
0:57and back in them days i say a thousand years ago
1:00that was just know the big business is
1:03that was the whole can to me it was agrarian there was snow
1:07industry or Thai people they border with each other
1:11day trainee dismounted is good for this my love those boots
1:16but the sensor up to barter system with cattle cattle
1:22worst the sample well of in many societies in the ancient world
1:26sold and me a just society stay started to worship the cattle
1:31any made all Cano of
1:34to Cal goddess and Kauai its and
1:38to me what day looks like
1:41is a representation I’ll the worship of wealth in
1:45a form of about you like car we can go back to
1:51biblical scriptures whether you believe in the Bible who is true or false
1:55it is trying to tell you something rose they have the moment where Moses went up
2:01on a heel
2:02to talks got when he was getting the Ten Commandments
2:05at the N he laughs the people of
2:09Israel date here just delivered out a slavery
2:12down and the value to wait going this time
2:16one of their leaders name Aaron decided to gather people
2:20and so worship and and I’ll he may the people believed it
2:25they need it got to the thing out because Dane no longer have
2:29the leadership that they had in the lead
2:32Egypt he convinced down to take after jury their hearings
2:36and make I’ll golden chaos
2:40out love third sure when you look at
2:44the symbolism up is going to pass cattle
2:47is the first for most money is the first symbol of money and it’s the first thing
2:51people Star Wars
2:5310 like one of the oldest forms of worship is to worship with cattle if not
2:58the first one of the oldest
3:00and DN Jory Jory is the second former
3:04much is the second oldest form of money particularly
3:08example is agents have thousands of years ago they use a scorecard
3:14shales that they were fine and
3:18the oceans they found in shales and
3:21the priest used on as George on a majority
3:25and day to get to
3:28idolize these pieces a jury because stay soul
3:33symbols of status an flutist
3:36idolatry they make these pieces a status
3:40a medium of exchange or in other words
3:43Ste this necklace a priest is were so many caps
3:48Cisco houses in symbol status
3:51dat mean is also worse whatever and everything else
3:56and then topped call in a chick Egypt they had
4:00Cal got assists and stars
4:04a particular one my head for it and it was the Cal goddess
4:09that they worship and just like
4:12any other form civilization the Egyptian so
4:16Hearst tower as 0 for wealth or status
4:19even origins have no side of
4:23ever use in a monetary system but they worship the cow
4:28for means of prosperity they have these sessions over rebirth
4:32and this all part of prosperity as well
4:35and then over time discount goddess gave birth
4:39tool Rawal to calcutta I gave birth so
4:43Rawal ray which leads to to worship
4:46love horse and hard or
4:50which is Egyptian goddess Isis it
4:54addition gots sis Sparta Sun worship
4:57now initially enough on it back to the US dollar today
5:02you on top permeate you have I a pro
5:05which stares back from worship
5:09up Kyle which is worse mine
5:12which is idolatry the first place
5:15on the back at the US dollar when I think I’ve like relations
5:19they got all kinda passes and I try to tell you in so many ways to there’s a
5:24spiritual connection
5:25between how percent handles their at O’Tooles
5:29an action star wealth and their spirit to stand in sweet guy
5:34and interim the Kingdom of Heaven
5:38are keen on who we are are going the other direction
5:42so various many parables me. versus
5:46in a Bible about money S is the topic is about money and going it’s a
5:49spirituality
5:50is very interesting that approximately one out at 10 versus
5:54in the Bible is concerned money or some type of
5:58find that too or possession
6:02typo verse what to do which are positions or financial slate
6:06soak some how to handle your mast over 2,300
6:11verses in the Bible period is concern among are you going to notice me
6:16G this pope more about money stand
6:19almost anything I believe he only spoke love
6:23the team member got more and
6:26interest in part to mean rival right before Turco sufficient Jesus
6:30has departed a Bible were %uh seizes clandestine temple
6:34and he goes into the temple and he see
6:37though financial triggering
6:40a religious chicory affair seems and he walk into
6:45for temple do under Tom above
6:48sacrifice s all that heat tired
6:51what he described his father house into it enough peaks
6:56in other words he was great and he saw although that they’ve read it was gonna
7:00am what was going on around them times is that
7:04there was I’ll for multiple tax done with
7:08pitcher sacrifice is everybody was required to sacrifice a patient leave a
7:13route passes they couldn’t issues any patient a sacrifice it
7:16own this sacred day they had to use sicker patients wishes only able to be
7:21purchased
7:22inside at the temple so and order to purchase these patients
7:27you had to exchange your money for temple many and then
7:30go about pigeons at inflated prices that you could buy anywhere else
7:35it was their way of dropping to public
7:38something like how though the Federal Reserve System does today
7:42back and damn time and specifically in a Bible
7:45they called the money changers because day exchange money
7:49phone want for money for another former money
7:53about making money offer Jessica dealing with
7:56money only money changers something like
8:00are Federal Reserve System does today
8:03they have us overtime exchange in all of our goal
8:07and they give us teens worthless piece of paper their money changers
8:11and been a money changer is always big business
8:15solo jeans went to the temple he saw all
8:18what the for seized or soul
8:22heat jet up the role and made a move
8:25well and this top only time in a complete Bible
8:29in a home test with the Jesus ever get angry he began
8:33to drive out the money changers output him
8:36with the Wookie just me at turned over tables
8:41and let their pigeons 3 and other words he totally disagreed
8:45wat the with over robbery up the money changers
8:49he disagreed with that more the anything else he encountered
8:53custom only top he capped think at the end
8:57I’m quite sure all them people that was involved
9:00and alone to sell enough pigeons exchange enough money
9:04lost a lot of money that day a lot of people soul
9:07now the people that want him day
9:11for going around spreading knowledge
9:14other than what they was trying to teach which the main
9:18topic Jesus spoke about other than the cam got was money
9:21and a fair seized on like this soul after he planned to Temple
9:27not a half a lot of political
9:30as far as take out a crowd of people there’s a will in a stone
9:35because you know for the love of money
9:39is the root of all kinds of people but then someone in the crowd
9:43ask question is very interesting to me tax shit they pay taxes to Caesar
9:47and sold and Jesus asked for all 12 so courts
9:51and he actual space on this call any sissies
9:54loading he say will render on a Caesar what is Caesar’s
9:58and Kia got was Scott’s matter petitioner they
10:01especially when you look at the entire context
10:04at a Bible how badly its peak of money from one
10:08yet to other ASX particularly
10:12to miss you serve it and i havent too much
10:15I V the Bible says you can serve two masters
10:19you either gonna 2 full 1 or despise other
10:23you got the give all 21 target not other
10:26you cannot serve God and money or you can serve God and wealth
10:30panettone what kinda version jury and so this is the Bible at a tour of money
10:35so what he say render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s and
10:39render also got what is God given all of that money
10:43then we look at other passes in about we talk about the grave images
10:47other got ship burned them in a fire you should not desired
10:51thus overall goal it is on them nor take it to you
10:55he’s you be scared very for is an abomination
10:59to the lower tigar is very interesting that
11:02he speakers engraving images which back today’s date in
11:06pray any leading
11:09that have print machines that have a system of print money
11:13data system I think great images out somebody
11:16and day you’ll silver and gold mainly because it is a rarity
11:21when I think even greater images and thinking US dollar
11:24if they have print today on a putback have a
11:27you got that I overall which is
11:31Sun worship that come from there Cal goddess
11:35which how God is covering well four-ship
11:38and that’s complete optometry explain in a Bible
11:41when a four-ship the Golden Calf on outside a dollar
11:45you get though the Eagle
11:48which is the God of War soul they out he’s I’ll
11:52print it estate and gravy images
11:57on the money that supposed to be back but go to Silver
12:00s that are covered in gold and silver like spoken up in a Bible
12:04and is because I i Dolci how bad at Dollar Tree
12:07and basically how greed and Dollar Tree
12:11least some ice in this world nah spice
12:14to of people and we look at though
12:18world we live in today and they’re destroying their environment
12:22they wanna enslave this many people as possible to day
12:26and in the Bible SP cells the borrower is a servant to the lender
12:30and they try to make as much debt is possible globally
12:34was was going on now their system other slaves min
12:39and they’re destroying the planet and eight calls wars
12:43great wars all in the name of profit so you can source
12:46interests all these things are abomination

how most see it? maybe? why?

How The Economic Machine Works by Ray Dalio

The Crisis of Credit Visualized – HD

what are externalities in a virtual world? in a world were humans are in a cyberworld where no one can ask.. “what are externalities in a virtual world?”? have we ever had freedom or liberty in any monitary system ever?

how would you “model” how children are to behave in a cyberwarfare digital money social credit based “reality” thru consumerbased advertising developement cycle? would that next generation even be able to ask?

how do we advertise to kids? are kids indocrinated into money or tricked into worshiping it? would a child be able to think about how children spend money?

Advertising to Children

“Be Their Voice” – The Effects of Advertising to Children

will kid “cast spells” on other kids in a global digital currinecy world?

Cartoons Exposed (The Games Children Play) Your child and the occult

“Their biggest concern has more to do with managing their own business and making sure they make the best decisions. Most millennials who are entrepreneurs have to focus on the things they control, like how they cost their projects and how they invest and try not to worry too much about the macro—because there’s only so much they can do about it.”

i would hope that “our” kids would be as crazy as “me” to ask some of the crazy questions and beyond right… but how could they if all the questions “we” asked are used to “imprision the next generation” into a “global money religon”?

i still think clean and healthy food, air, water, land and “humans” is more important than “technology” that is only used for warfare and “money religon”?

Chances of Life in our Universe

since the beginning of time
0:25all the
0:26the universe has been governed by precisely balanced laws and Constance
0:31doing an interview with Robin Collins a philosopher with degrees in mathematics
0:35and physics
0:36strobel learn how these laws offer compelling evidence for creator
0:41and conspire to make the universe habitable for life
0:45the laws of physics are balanced on a razor’s edge
0:49for life to occur for example if you can have something like Robert E
0:54the whole matter together you would never get
0:57planet you when get stars you when did any complex organisms
1:01if you can have the strong nuclear force to be nothing
1:05hold protons and neutrons together in the nucleus
1:09as he would have any Adams so no chemistry couldn’t have
1:13the electromagnetic force would have no bonding between chemicals
1:16you have no light in the list goes on to me all the sort of fundamental
1:20principles have to be in place
1:22in order for like to occur wipe out one of those principles wipe out one of
1:26those laws
1:27means no life strobel learn that life
1:31also hinges on the precise strengths and relative values
1:35many different physical constants one example on this fine tuning
1:39is the force of gravity
1:44a major homework divided up into one
1:47inch increments and then stretched across the entire universe
1:51a distance of some 14 billion light-years for the purposes of
1:58illustration
1:59the ruling represents the possible range program in
2:03and other words the setting for the strength gravity could have been
2:06anywhere along the ruler but
2:08it just happens to be situated in exactly the right place
2:12so that why is possible
2:15now if you to change the force of gravity by moving the setting
2:18just 1 %eh compared to the tire with that the universe
2:22the affect I’m like would be catastrophic
2:25no large-scale life forms could exist
2:30anything that was more than the size of a pea would be
2:33completely crushed so you might be able to get life
2:36are very very primitive sort such as bacteria but you could never get
2:41conscious observers the strength gravity
2:45is just one at least 30 separate parameters that must be finely tuned to
2:49produce a life-sustaining universe
2:51another example is the cosmological constant
2:55the cosmological constant describes the expansion speed
3:00a space in the universe if space expands to quickly then
3:04the universal spread out so quickly that material objects can form so you can get
3:08stars and galaxies and planets
3:11types of things that we’ve course take for granted in our universe
3:16physicist have determined that the cosmological constant is fine tune
3:20to one part in a hundred million billion billion billion billion
3:24billion
3:27such precision has been compared to traveling hundreds of miles into space
3:32than throwing a dart at the earth hitting the bulls eye measuring 1
3:36trillion public trillion up in inch in diameter
3:39and area less than the with up a single
3:45just consider those two parameters
3:47gravity and the cosmological constant their level of fine tuning is 20 per
3:52session
3:53up one part in a hundred million trillion trillion trillion trillion
3:58trillion
3:59trillion miss like one madame in the entire
4:03known universe this fine tuning is also
4:09at the atomic level the strong nuclear force
4:12Bynes atoms together if the string to this foursquare to decrease by one part
4:1810,000 billion billion billion billion
4:21the only element left use would be piped
4:25again chemical life would not be possible
4:29the fine-tuning the the laws in force is a physics
4:33is so precise that few theorists are comfortable invoking near chance
4:38as an explanation unless our universe is not the only role of the dice
4:43I’m if the universe looks like it’s fine tuned for complex life maybe
4:49there’s a fine tuner maybe it was fine tuned for life
4:52in this has certain unsavory theological implications and so it’s not surprising
4:58those committed to it finally materialistic
5:01view of reality I would try to find an escape hatch
5:04and the most popular escape hatch for this the logical implication a
5:08fine-tuning
5:09is idea of multiple universes as its name suggests
5:15the theory of multiple universes proposes that our universe is not alone
5:20instead it is part of a vast ensemble universes
5:24each with a different set of laws and Constance
5:27I’m if there’s only one universal in the conclusion that the universe looks fine
5:31tune
5:32because it is fine-tuned is inescapable but if our universe is just one of a
5:36vast Sep
5:38then you seem to have more resources to play with chance
5:42gets a new lease on life I sometimes try to imagine what physicists have in mind
5:48that partially this idea multiple universes
5:51I mean what would the generator look like that creates them
5:54maybe it’s like a giant monolith that as dozens of different dials
5:58each of which has to be set up to the right physical constant we think that
6:02these
6:03parameters as dials each of the dials
6:06is different so few produce enough universes with enough different dial
6:10settings eventually just by chance
6:13ticket one just ride see you might have to produce
6:16a trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion fold fold fold fold fold
6:21universal’s but eventually he have a generator that just spitting out
6:24just anymore miss number of I’m then he gets the right I’ll setting
6:29and then by just chance you get conditions
6:33right for life so it’s a huge cosmic lottery
6:37that’s the idea it’s an interesting idea
6:40me there’s really only one problem with it there’s no independent evidence is
6:44true
6:44beside religious pushes the question back a step because we could still ask
6:50home bill
6:51generator the suggestion have multiple universes strikes me as a desperate
6:56attempt to explain away the obvious
6:57which is that the universe is finely tuned by an intelligence
7:02to sustain complex life intelligence it must be beyond the constraints of time
7:09in space

organized violence and organized non-violence

The intention is to, in a systematic way, target the victim’s mental equilibrium, self confidence, and self esteem so that they are no longer able to function in an independent way.

Gaslighting involves doing something evil and then lying to someone else or deceiving them in order to make them think that they are crazy so that they can conceal the evil they are doing. The ten commandments tell us that this is evil. Gaslighting breaks the 9th commandment (among others) “Thou shalt not bear false witness”. False religion is a form of gaslighting because they collect money from the masses to make a few individuals wealthy and use a “form of worship” as a cover for their evil deeds.

do you believe in forgiveness or do you not…
your answer either make you a sociopath or a recovered sociopath.

we do not heal our broken heart ourselves… only thru a greater power.
otherwise we would be able to “heal” the world with our own “understanding” since the beginning. yet why do we continue to “try to solve it with money aka “our own will and understanding”?

In popular culture, the term “narcissistic” is thrown about quite loosely, usually referring to vanity and self-absorption. This reduces narcissism to a common quality that everyone possesses and downplays the symptoms demonstrated by people with the actual disorder. While narcissism does exist on a spectrum, narcissism as a full-fledged personality disorder is quite different.

People who meet the criteria for Narcissistic Personality Disorder or those who have traits of Antisocial Personality Disorder can operate in extremely manipulative ways within the context of intimate relationships due to their deceitfulness, lack of empathy and their tendency to be interpersonally exploitative. Although I will be focusing on narcissistic abusers in this post, due to the overlap of symptoms in these two disorders, this post can potentially apply to interactions with those who have ASPD to an extent.

It’s important in any kind of relationship that we learn to identify the red flags when interacting with people who display malignant narcissism and/or antisocial traits, so we can better protect ourselves from exploitation and abuse, set boundaries, and make informed decisions about who we keep in our lives. Understanding the nature of these toxic interactions and how they affect us has an enormous impact on our ability to engage in self-care.

people in money will use psychological warfare, including economic and socio economic warfare, persuasion technologies, behavioral modification technologies, cyber warfare, thru the very means that anyone could communicate… including computers etc…

GOD warns you thru ways you do not understand and “Wills” exsistance you cannot “judge or measure” meaning saving grace thru faith.

usury is what is wrong about all money..all money is debt and interest based meaning slave based…. it is not a value for value exchange but a casting of lot or bet on the life of its value only under those alive to contest?

money has no heart and people addicted to money(everyone) treat others as disposable..

“I wonder if it’s ever struck you how curious a thing it is that most of the things we experience we regard as things that happen to us; which we ourselves do not originate, which are events expressing some sort of power or activity that is external to ourselves. And if you consider that, you realize that what you mean by your ‘Self’ is rather narrowly circumscribed. Even events that go on in our own bodies are put in the category of ‘things that happen to us’ in the same way as things that go on in the world outside our skin. If there is a thunderstorm or an earthquake, well, it happens to you; you’re not responsible for it. The same way if you have hiccups; you didn’t plan on it. If you have belly rumbles, you have no intention of doing it. And as for the catastrophic act of getting born, well, you had nothing to do with that! And you can spend all your life blaming your parents for putting you in the situation in which you find yourself. And this way of looking at the world in this sort of passive mood as ‘something that happens to you’ goes right down to our general feeling about life. It goes down to the way in which, as westerners, we have been accustomed to look at human existence as a precarious event in the Cosmos, that on the whole, is depicted as being completely unsympathetic and alien to our existence.

In other words, if you are reared with a 20th century, or shall we say, an ‘early 20th century common sense,’ which is based on the philosophy of science of the 19th century, with its rejection of Christianity and Judaism, you regard yourself as an accident, a biological accident, in a ‘stupid’ universe, which is mechanical, but has no feelings; no finer feelings. A vast pointless gyration of radioactive rocks and gas in which you happen to occur; because if you don’t have the point of view, and you are more traditional, you look upon yourself as a child of God, and therefore, under authority. In other words, there is a ‘Big Boss’ on top of all this, who allowed you, at his pleasure, to deign to have the disgusting affrontery to exist, with the attitude of ‘this is going to hurt me more than it is going to hurt you.’ And when you look at the world in that image, or in the other image, that it’s a stupid mechanism, either point of view you take, you don’t really belong.

You’re not really part of all this. And I could use a stronger word than ‘part,’ only we don’t have it in English. We have to say something like ‘connected with it,’ ‘essential to it’ or to put it in the strongest possible way, it is quite alien to western though to conceive that the external world, which is defined as something that happens to you, and your body itself as something that you got caught up with; it is quite alien to our thought to consider all that as ‘You, Yourself.’ Because, you see, we have such a myopic view of what one’s ‘Self’ is. It’s as if, in other word, we have selected how much experience is really to be regarded as ‘me.’

As if you focused your attention on certain restricted areas of the whole panorama of things that you experience, and say, ‘I will take sides with that much of it.’ Now, we come here, right at the start, to an extremely important principle, which is the different points of view you get when you change your level of magnification. That is, to say you can look at something with a microscope and see it a certain way; you can look at it with the naked eye and see it in a certain way; you can look at it with a telescope and you can see it in another way. Now, which level of magnification is the correct one? Well, obviously they are all correct. They’re just different points of view.

You can, for example, look at a newspaper photograph with magnifying glass. And where, with the naked eye, you will see a human face, with a magnifying glass you will just see a profusion of dots, rather meaninglessly scattered. But as you stand away from that connection of dots, which all seem to be separate and apart from each other, they suddenly to arrange themselves into a pattern. What is, in other words, is conflict at one level, of magnification, is harmony at higher level. Now, could it possibly be that, therefore, that we, with all our problems: conflicts, neurosis, sicknesses, political outrages, wars, tortures and everything that goes on in human life, are a state of conflict which can be seen in the larger perspective as a situation of harmony. And you can say, ‘A-ha! At last, I see, I’ve got the point. I’ve seen how all this makes sense.’ But what this insight depended upon was your overcoming the illusion that space separates things.” –Allan Watts

ypes of tactics

The following list of tactics of power and control summarises the list that you can view by downloading the pdf document. I have written separate blog posts explaining each of the following ways men use coercive control against female partners:

One-sided power games including behaviours that ensure he has his way at her expense
Mind games including guilt trips and confusing her in ways that make her feel crazy
Inappropriate restrictions including refusing to let her work
Isolation including controlling incoming information such as what she reads
Over-protection and ‘caring’ including dissuading her from going out alone in case she gets raped
Emotional unkindness, violation of trust, Cyberbullying including promising to help and then ‘forgetting’
Degradation & suppression of potential including criticising her strengths and achievements
Separation abuse including stalking such as leaving flowers – this sends a threatening message that he can always find her no matter where she is. Whereas, an outsider might look at this act, and think of it as a caring gesture.
Using social institutions including engaging in child custody battles to maintain power over her
Using social prejudices such as saying to a disabled partner that she can’t even walk out the door – this reinforces his power
Denial including refusing to take responsibility for the harm he causes
Minimising by saying “it wasn’t that bad, get over it”
Blaming by twisting the story so she appears responsible
Making excuses such as blaming stress at work
Using children for example saying he wouldn’t get so angry if she kept the children quiet
Economic abuse including not allowing her access to any money, or putting her in charge of the budget, but then spending all the money and abusing her when the debt mounts
Intimate Partner Sexual abuse including pressuring her to have sex when she is sick
Symbolic aggression including threats to harm her family, friends, pets
Domestic slavery including punishing her for not carrying out duties he claims she should have, while not carrying out his own
Physical violence: Men’s Motivations including hair pulling and dragging her along the floor
Cyber abuse, Online social cruelty, Cyber bullying, Cyber stalking
Systematic pattern of power and control

As the above list suggests, physical violence is just one tactic among many that some men subject their female partners to. And not all these men use physical violence — ever. Rather they use some, or all, of the above psychological and structural forms of control.

Each behaviour, when looked at separately, could seem justifiable. Each singular behaviour could look like something minor. Each behaviour on its own could appear that the woman provoked it. Just one of these behaviours viewed from the outside — out of context — could appear like he was just having a bad day.

However, look at this short list in its entirety. Now consider this mass of behaviours as a systematic pattern. Also know that women who are subjected to this pattern of abuse and control experience MANY of these tactics — every day, every week, every month, every year — for years and years. Then ask yourself if you think this systematic pattern of power and control is about the man just having a bad day. Or is there a campaign (whether it is conscious or not) to win at all costs and to maintain power and control?

Why do people want power and control – control freaks[edit]
Main article: Control freak
In psychology-related slang, control freak is a derogatory term for a person who attempts to dictate how everything around them is done.[1] Control freaks are often perfectionists[2] defending themselves against their own inner vulnerabilities in the belief that if they are not in total control they risk exposing themselves once more to childhood angst.[3] Such persons manipulate and pressure others to change so as to avoid having to change themselves,[4] and use power over others to escape an inner emptiness.[5]

In terms of personality-type theory, control freaks are very much the Type A personality, driven by the need to dominate and control.[6] An obsessive need to control others is also associated with antisocial personality disorder.[7]

Domestic abuse involves repeated, ongoing, intentional control tactics used by one partner against the other. Those tactics may be physical, sexual, economic, psychological, legal, institutional, or all of the above. They often include:

Unreasonable and non-negotiable demands.
Stalking – surveillance and unwanted contact.
Cruelty.
Destroying the partner’s other relationships and isolating her/him from friends, family members, co-workers and others.
Restricting daily activities.
Coercion – a combination of demands, threats of negative consequences for noncompliance, and surveillance.6
Manipulation through minimization, denial, lies, promises, etc.
Threats and intimidation.
Excuses, rationalizations and blame.
Stifling the partner’s independence.
Controlling partner’s access to information and services.
Sexual abuse and violence; reproductive coercion.7
Economic control and exploitation.
Identity abuse.
Physical violence – which can range from minor to lethal. The physical violence typical of abuse is more frequent and severe than that typical of situational violence.8,9
Deprivation of liberty, equality and personhood;10 treating their partner and children as objects.11
Extreme jealousy, possessiveness and ridiculous accusations of infidelity. (Abusers often imagine that their partner is cheating, and jealousy and suspicion are the usual motivations of men who murder a current or former partner.12,13)
Punishing the partner and children for infractions (and imaginary infractions) of their rules.
Ignoring their partner’s needs, opinions and feelings, and the harm that their behavior does to her/him.
Separation violence.

are money addicts control freaks? is it the same as the drug war? where everyone claims the “control freak” status as they “define other” by how they are presented thru media and social media?

money is a religon

hate groups and individuals use the destruction and violence of “the others” even altering their “reality” to “destroy themselves” only thru their money, then “claiming “they” did it to others that believe like them to attract more “like” them….yet deny deny deny to the “others that might whistleblow”… progressing toward greater and greater “high-tech hate”…

GOD provides for you Grace sufficiently… not to much not to less… just enough.

hate groups only see justice thru themselves “inflicting it” yet it does not satisfy…or change anything for all… hasting after more and more of this “justice” yet the appetite of it not ever satisfied… ever….

GOD saves you by showing you forgiveness in ways you do not understand
or need to… that if you forgive He forgives you and forgiveness “moves thru you” lasting forever…

“hate groups or individuals” cannot endure without money.

GOD love endures forever….

do you ask yourself if you are part of a hate group thru money?

]]>https://paulstatchen.wordpress.com/2016/04/21/3789/feed/0paulstatchenFor such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds.https://paulstatchen.wordpress.com/2016/04/19/3705/
https://paulstatchen.wordpress.com/2016/04/19/3705/#respondTue, 19 Apr 2016 22:46:51 +0000http://paulstatchen.wordpress.com/?p=3705mature audiences only please….

is America hiding in plain site “sorcerers”(science/technology preist) and idol(money) worshipers with slanders(narcasitic gaslighters) selfish self loathers? if so what are they building “with there own understanding”? could any outsider ask?

does our own rationality get in the way of understanding the crystaline world we “magically” create thru “money” worldwide? can we say we each individualy and collectivilly built “the prestege” together out of “love”? is that doulble minded or double yoke? money believers yoked to non-money believers?
do money believers only spend with other money believers? how could nonmoney believers partake with money believers except by force? do we eat at the table of demons and table of GOD? de we both serve money and GOD? do we

8 Owe no man anything, but to love one another, for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law.
9 For this, “Thou shalt not commit adultery,” “Thou shalt not kill,” “Thou shalt not steal,” “Thou shalt not bear false witness,” “Thou shalt not covet,” and if there be any other commandment, all are briefly comprehended in this saying, namely: “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.”
10 Love worketh no ill to his neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.

the barles prison of emotional abuse how does a socitey pay for it? how do they set each other up? thur computers or other “devices”?

Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions.

Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices.

Whatsoever your hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, where you go.

do we hope in our own dreams to change the world with our money.. thru its “magic”?

do we remain silent about th eschmes going on around us or that we are part of by “nieghborhood” or “community” (birds of a feather flock together) and other memes meant to confuse most from “saying about it” for fear of “grouped in the blame of “involvement”? could truth ever be exposed in that environment? are those environments designed? how?

is every praise a “in showing” a delightful praise or “happy” praise GOD? do people in money “beileve” that praising GOD is a “blissful super estatic happy happy fest”?

is the world think love is “i’m your man”? if so do those people think its a “show” which they can get in on? or a specticle they can safely view from the outside as ” observers”? free from emotional entanglements?

if the piano(world) is drunk who could ask for sum spare change? in a world about money thought of as a “tool” how could anyone ask for change? or

do we have “time” solve “puzzles in a “money is time” world?

who could “take on” themselves in in a life developed in a world worshiping money? how could anyone on there own let alone with others?

do we see our world of money worship as just a “young lovers romance”? if so how does anyone mature into a whole being beyond money? is it possible in a money centered world?

do we see it as mommy and daddy did it… i wont give myself away to money “i cna surrender to the money” and still have a family just like they did?

is this world of money built on “living vicariously thru others”? how would you ever find out if you entire life was developed in a “vicarious world”?

if a “young subject” in a “vicarious world” that worships money thru technology were to question that system when would that system be able to start “controlling there life”? why? can the controled ask if they are being controled?

if fearbased tactics is used to control others… then then how could you question its use on others or yourself if you know or are a part of its implementaton on others?

These weapons of mass destruction
Around our world threat to us all

Operated by fears (Fears)
Cold over years (Years)
Systematic death (Death)
Terminal breath!

Leaders of our time just stand behind
An arsenal to end us all

Fighting a war (War)
We can’t ignore (Ignore)
Destined to fall (Fall)
Cowards to all
Cowards to all
Cowards to all
Cowards to all
Cowards to all
Coward
Coward
Coward
Coward

We are losing weapons controlling
This is the hour of your reckoning

Yeeah

These weapons of mass destruction
Around our world threat to us all

Fighting a war (War)
We can’t ignore (Ignore)
Destined to fall(Fall)
Cowards to all
Cowards to all
Cowards to all
Cowards to all
Cowards to all
Coward
Coward
Coward
Coward

We are losing weapons controlling
This is the hour of your reckoning

No more
More arsenal threatens all
Heading for a downfall
Mass destruction
Mass destruction
Mass destruction for all

who attemps to escape reconciliation in a world that is drunk on worshiping money? who sells it to them in a world that worships money? could it be that most are not sold anything but “subject to experimentation on the masses”? who could question or find out if “mass experimentaton” like pollution or purposeful “drugging” of “control” subjects or “supsects”?

binary exsistance?

if you are doubleminded about “binary exsistance” within yourself as developed by a structuralist world “where all humans are enslaved to commodities and images? would it feel like you “j*** in you r pants” all the time?

are we defined by stereotypes by the collective or do we have “control” of “stereotypes” with certian “technologies”? why? has it happened in the past?

are we all pets or animals to a system of sterotyped conformity “where no one seeks “truth” cause it cost to much? who could afford to “find truth thru love”?

is it always business time in the “money worshiping world”? do we treat it like a farce that is actually “serious”? yet who could tell the truth?

is the money worshiping world looked at a “to big to escape”? worship or die?

Professor David Runciman warns that the belief that democracies can muddle through anything is a “confidence trap” that may lead ultimately to a crisis that proves just too big to escape.

Impending Judgment on the Earth
24 Behold, the Lord makes the earth empty and makes it waste,
Distorts its surface
And scatters abroad its inhabitants.
2 And it shall be:
As with the people, so with the priest;
As with the servant, so with his master;
As with the maid, so with her mistress;
As with the buyer, so with the seller;
As with the lender, so with the borrower;
As with the creditor, so with the debtor.
3 The land shall be entirely emptied and utterly plundered,
For the Lord has spoken this word.
4 The earth mourns and fades away,
The world languishes and fades away;
The haughty people of the earth languish.
5 The earth is also defiled under its inhabitants,
Because they have transgressed the laws,
Changed the ordinance,
Broken the everlasting covenant.
6 Therefore the curse has devoured the earth,
And those who dwell in it are desolate.
Therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned,
And few men are left.
7 The new wine fails, the vine languishes,
All the merry-hearted sigh.
8 The mirth of the tambourine ceases,
The noise of the jubilant ends,
The joy of the harp ceases.
9 They shall not drink wine with a song;
Strong drink is bitter to those who drink it.
10 The city of confusion is broken down;
Every house is shut up, so that none may go in.
11 There is a cry for wine in the streets,
All joy is darkened,
The mirth of the land is gone.
12 In the city desolation is left,
And the gate is stricken with destruction.
13 When it shall be thus in the midst of the land among the people,
It shall be like the shaking of an olive tree,
Like the gleaning of grapes when the vintage is done.
14 They shall lift up their voice, they shall sing;
For the majesty of the Lord
They shall cry aloud from the sea.
15 Therefore glorify the Lord in the dawning light,
The name of the Lord God of Israel in the coastlands of the sea.
16 From the ends of the earth we have heard songs:
“Glory to the righteous!”
But I said, “I am ruined, ruined!
Woe to me!
The treacherous dealers have dealt treacherously,
Indeed, the treacherous dealers have dealt very treacherously.”
17 Fear and the pit and the snare
Are upon you, O inhabitant of the earth.
18 And it shall be
That he who flees from the noise of the fear
Shall fall into the pit,
And he who comes up from the midst of the pit
Shall be caught in the snare;
For the windows from on high are open,
And the foundations of the earth are shaken.
19 The earth is violently broken,
The earth is split open,
The earth is shaken exceedingly.
20 The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard,
And shall totter like a hut;
Its transgression shall be heavy upon it,
And it will fall, and not rise again.
21 It shall come to pass in that day
That the Lord will punish on high the host of exalted ones,
And on the earth the kings of the earth.
22 They will be gathered together,
As prisoners are gathered in the pit,
And will be shut up in the prison;
After many days they will be punished.
23 Then the moon will be disgraced
And the sun ashamed;
For the Lord of hosts will reign
On Mount Zion and in Jerusalem
And before His elders, gloriously.

are we brothers or strangers? is gaslighting and gossip to short sell them in clemancy and make the “others” strangers? for what? would it be so nonbelievers yoked with “believers can charge people interest for profit without “jubilles and sabbaths”? how long? forever?

19“You shall not charge interest to your brother—interest on money or food or anything that is lent out at interest. 20To a foreigner you may charge interest, but to your brother you shall not charge interest, that the Lord your God may bless you in all to which you set your hand in the land which you are entering to possess.

]]>https://paulstatchen.wordpress.com/2016/04/19/3705/feed/0paulstatchenAnd have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them.https://paulstatchen.wordpress.com/2016/04/15/3282/
https://paulstatchen.wordpress.com/2016/04/15/3282/#respondFri, 15 Apr 2016 00:03:01 +0000http://paulstatchen.wordpress.com/?p=3282

dont watch it all in one place now?

how long have we known this was going to happen?
INFORMATION SOCIETY – WHAT’S ON YOUR MIND

The Anti-Social Network

are we supposed to expose the antisocial network that destroys people or go after “sinners” just like the annisocial network?

is this a theme song for “networks”?

is this an alternative theme song?

or like this?

do they think like this?

is this what its like to “get away with it”?

who knows what anyone wants? does “she”(network)? what does she want? does anyone know?

does the “network” push there agenda to emotionally entangle unsuspecting “allies”(or programmed people) to run “manuveurs” for the “network”?

how do those in a network “control” the others? are people that are drawn to “networks” somehow abused at some point before they join a “network” to do the same to others? why?

does it appear that some of them get “bored” with there “experiments” and look for new “sensations”? is it about money?

when yall are in your cars chasing people around after you have look for “people” online do you play this song on you cameraphone?

some are on a mission statement? or mission? or public statement? or mint?

how are “networks” built?

are some just lonely? do they use radios includeing the “radios” of you “pocket computers”?

how far will some go to setting “the others” up? and remain hidden? would they lie to “set up others”?

are those that “follow others” looking for dirt on others to use in the networks listening to this song while they “watch you express yourself”? is it better to be a “madonna”? or a “wild thing”

can those who cyber bully help themselves? can they stop? are cyberbullies addicted? who would ever find out about a cyber addcition in a cyberwarefare global would war?

who in a “network” ever decides when they are finnished? is it ever complete? are “after those others” ever filled up? is it like “drugs”? how would anyone ever find out?

is the wishing well of the internet being used to ‘kiss and tell” to “compare and sell” every human on the planet? do you have a choice in a cyberwarfare world? is that talked about in the bible?

do sociopaths try to control others and conceal there harm in a “network”? where are the borders in a cyberworld? could anybody “let go” in a war? let go of the “control of others”? how?

]]>https://paulstatchen.wordpress.com/2016/04/15/3282/feed/0paulstatchenAnd Jesus answering said unto them, They that are whole need not a physician; but they that are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.https://paulstatchen.wordpress.com/2016/03/31/2530/
https://paulstatchen.wordpress.com/2016/03/31/2530/#respondThu, 31 Mar 2016 23:46:57 +0000http://paulstatchen.wordpress.com/?p=2530can you live without money? <—-mature audiences only please…?!

ask yourself before you search for the “fold” do you really want to “read” this?why?

are you judging or measureing me? do you do it to others? in front of them? why? do you know my whole life? or theres? do you talk about me in front of others in front of me? why? do you do that to others? do you lie about doing it to others? do you believe you know me? why?

is war about money? how would one ask that in a war? what if they were poor and from a devasted community? who is able to question money? if not who would represent them?

what is collective occlusion? collective meomory? is it alterable? how? by who? for what reasons would they? is it related to whistleblowing? how? when?

i am anti drug war in a country about profit from drug wars… even though it does not work? who is going to pay for it? who has the money from that war? what countries know about that unethical human experimentation? is the drug war in every city in america? why? has any war in history been this deeply infested and devastaing… and who is going to “repair” the communites destroyed by this drug war? those profiting form it? who declares the end of this global civil war?

is the drug war about our relationship with money?

does beliefs in money have an influence on who owns “property”? what about who owns posseses our “identity”? is it property ? who owns or possesses it?

has our government experimented on citizens with drugs? what about prisoners? has our kids been exposed to more drugs(persrictions drugs) than any other in the world? does healthe insurance companies keep track of all the drugs you kids na dyou have been exposed to? does drugs “during pregnacy” afffect the children? how?

who owns oursleves in war? any war? who owns who each others identity to decifer which side someone is… in the drug war? does it ever clear out in a global internet world? has history forgoten wars? is this one forgetable? can anyone earase the tools(internet) used in the drug war?

the drug war is about MONEY? is our civilization empire pathalogical about money? who can question money? who claims to be free from money? what happens to those who question money? what happens to them? do sociopathic societies “perscute those who “quesiton money”? why? do sociopaths “control and conceal”? do pyschopaths use others to destroy evidence of there own lies? is our civilization a pathocracy? who could ask that if everyone is “trained from birth” to be pathalogical? what is narcissism and gaslighting in pathological societies in war?

how does this war affect social order and structure? what about class? who benifits socially from war “agendas” on “the others”? who socially profits for the “angles of proper goodness”(who is on the “right” side) of identity in wars? or drug wars? who can make a stand against “many” to question what is happening in their “community” at war? how would they? could you go up against everything you know? you family? your friends? your country? in war?

how do gaslighters profiting of of a war or drug war psychologically abuse their targets?

Deny existence of an event even when presented with evidence (Denial);

Deny behaviors by immediately putting their targets on the defensive (Deflection);

Insist that their targets are imagining things (Chronic Invalidation);

Shame their targets for expressing very real hurts (Minimization);

Insist that others are the source of their poor choices (Blaming);

Mentally abuse their targets with criticism veiled as “advice” (Depreciation);

(Usually) must have the last word (again, Chronic Invalidation);

Force agreement by their targets to accept their false reality (Domination);

Engage in gossip in order to hurt and control their targets (Humiliation);

Has the ability to “sell ice to an Eskimo” meaning that they are persistent and manipulative enough to convince someone to invest in something that they could receive for free (Insincerity).

is the drug war a civil war? were are its borders? where are the measure of casualitys? who is made to suffer for there “beliefs”? how? when? from that understanding which side wins? are there sides? how are there sides? if everyone is about the money from that war? were we warned of a military industrial prison complex by authorities? ever? are we truelly free to discuss a war publicly? do communities in war profile each other? is to profile a form of prejudice in war?

is the drug war about systematic poverty? does that mean there are systematic rich? that profit form it? who or what corporations profit off the drug war or affiliated markets? like weapons? transportaion? laundrying of money? clean up of “messes”? pollitical blackmails? coverups and exposures leading to “settlements”?

who grows the drugs? how do they grow or make the drugs? does it destroy the land? water supply? whos land or county does the plants or chemicals derived from? is it about international affairs? are they used in other industries? does the growers get paid a “fair share”? is there “slavery” in the production of drugs? how is that? it it not about money to enslave those to “produce” drugs?

does land “ownership” and drug production and local and international politics have a common ground or relation? how? why? who controls those policies? locally or international? or cross borders? are there secret aggrements? derrivatives? how could anyone “regulate them?

if private property land ownership durring the “green revolution” turned “farmers” into gambling capitalist willing to bet it all, who profited from it?

has the world attempted to face up to even estimate the total collateral damage(Unintended damage, injuries, or deaths caused by an action, especially unintended civilian casualties caused by a military operation.) of the drug war? how?

how many government jobs are about the processing the poopulation in the war on drugs? how many jobs in a given city are part of the drug war? why?

how many wars have been this complex?

do authorities “seize” the property of those in the drug war? how? what happpens to the “property”? what happens to the money? who gets the money or property? how? what about when two competitors of the drug war claim each other “property” what authority could they go to? when or how? is the drug war about property(or real estate) “exchange”? why? is it about control? is divisions in families about property or real estate? could families or communites “sell each other out” in a war or drug war to gain “advantage” to property or real estate? how? who would be able to write or talk about it in war? who is ever going to find out? why would they want to?

is war a spiritual problem? is our relation with money a spiritual problem? who defines our individual and collective relation with money?

are pathalogical societys Collaborating? how? why? is money use to clean up there messes and hide themselves? how would you follow the money to find out? if you could not question it “publicly”?do pathalogical societies create lies and less than whole truths about those who “question” there motives and methods? is it a attribute of pathalogical societies to “track” and “obscure” those who question the system of design use to “do it to others”?

has this war turn us agianst oursleves and have us running from each other the pains of persecution of the mobs of haters we call our community? do we look away when others are doing it in front of us? do we join in to hide? do we ever question while it is happening?

do we see the disfunction of this war as normal now that we do not question it?

are the “prisoners” of the drug war treated as slaves? how? in there own communites? or others? why? are we more “civilized” than say the Medieval Inquisition? what are they gaslighted and abuse and told who they are over and over? who profits of them being slaves? is there a side who is profiting when most looking away in how they are in specialization organization?

how are users hiding their usage? are they are somehow profitting off of no one knowing? do you tell others when you are sick? or have a disease? why do others expect you to when they ask you randomly? when do they decide to “find out about it”? is that in itself a setup”? is “to know” being used as an attempt to control people? why? is “rock stardom” used as a cover or distraction in the entertainment industry? why? do people follow other people? is that idol worship?

if someone were to investigate a war themselves in a society about that war would they attack them?

how much pollution is from the drug war? what is scorched earth? how would you know if it was done to your “country” if you couldnt see it? when? could it be covered up? by who? why? what other forms of pollution from war is there in the drug war? how is policy enforced on pollution from drug wars when no one can “see” it? what else is like these techniques? is you car a pollution device? what about industrial home and IIoT? are they sustainable and resilient in a empire about war? how did we create them? was it from war? would we be able to sustain them without some form of war? how? how are our communites self-sustaining? are we as americans “always” going to be at war? would or could we stop? if so would that mean we would be a ” revolutionary”? is that treason or terrorism or both? is our constitution able to be changed by its citizens who are “victims” of wars”? is that an advantage for who? why?

is our own communities a form of concentration camps in a drug war? are they being redesigned for the “cyberwar”? why? what does that mean?

what would happen if someone were to question money, war and drug wars?

what does specialization have to do with how we would question money, war and drug wars? how does it affect our “worldview” and at what times in our life? from who do we learn our worldview? to know what wars we are in? when? who decided what community or nation you were born into?

how does virtual water and cyberwarfare part of the drug war? is the drug war a preleminary for a global cyberwarfare? how? are there 148 cyberwarfare countries out of 196 countries in the world?

who would be “crazy” enough to question a war about money?

what about those we in groups at war…question the others in wars and money? are they ever reconciled? how could anyone find out the “whole” truth in a pathological society to “judge righteously” those “questioning the war”?

is this war special because even kids are use to “fight and take sides” in that war? was anyone a dare kid? how much propaganda would we hav eto deprogram kids of this war? has war involving kids ever been able to be “reconclied” by those in charge after it? how? are there wars now in the world that hav ekids fighting? what are those communities “going” thru? is america ready to confess up to this war? ever?

has this war been part of my life? who are you to say so? or how? is it a discusion if the other side is “still in war”? or profiting form it?

There is now little doubt that there is a close correlation between the “war on drugs” (and on “gangs”) and the growth of the prison industrial complex. This “war” was officially launched by President Reagan in the mid-1980s when he promised that the police would attack the drug problem “with more ferocity than ever before.” What he did not say, however, was that the enforcement of the new drug laws “would focus almost exclusively on low-level dealers in minority neighborhoods.” Indeed, the police found such dealers in these areas mainly because that is precisely where they looked for them, rather than, say, on college campuses. The results were immediate: the arrest rates for blacks on drug charges shot dramatically upward in the late 1980s and well into the 1990s. In fact, while blacks constitute only around 12% of the U.S. population and about 13% of all monthly drug users (and their rate of illegal drug use is roughly the same as for whites), they represent 35 percent of those arrested for drug possession and 74% of those sentenced to prison on drug charges.

Our society is awash in drugs and mixed messages, and people who use drugs would be safer if we acknowledged their ubiquity.

NEW YORK — Despite an increased emphasis on treatment and prevention programs in recent years, the Obama administration in its 2013 budget still requested $25.6 billion in federal spending on the drug war. Of that, $15 billion would go to law enforcement, interdiction and international efforts.

In a 2011 interview, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that legalization is “not likely to work” because “there is just too much money in it.” Clinton was talking about cartels, but the same holds true for the legal industries that owe their profit margins, market shares, and—in some cases—very existence to the war on drugs. Here are four industries you might not realize profit off the drug war.

NEW YORK — Despite an increased emphasis on treatment and prevention programs in recent years, the Obama administration in its 2013 budget still requested $25.6 billion in federal spending on the drug war. Of that, $15 billion would go to law enforcement, interdiction and international efforts.

do we treat those we do not understand like in the drug war like Jesus?

could one day you will be called a cyber addict(for just using a cyber device, etc) or one day because of “pollution” or “disease” you will be excluded from “help” even if you are “rich” yet it is useless and you will cry out to “god” and you will know the eternal spiritual war that you hide from in money… may jesus christ grace be with you all before that time… comes… the drug war is moving to cyber matrix war… of which no human will be free from themselves or the “Machines”… that “rule” them… ? God bless

when you speak life… does the whole world shake awake and ask “what is it” like the mind of a child?

much love my beloved

Faith Commander Small Group Bible Study by Korie Robertson and Chrys Howard – Session One

Lecrae – Give In ft. Crystal Nicole

Lecrae – Prayin’ For You

MercyMe – Flawless

Rooftops by Jesus Culture by the brothers Aldrich and James from philippines

to my family and friends that are no longer with us….

and to family and friends in the world…

“don’t be afriad” jesus qoute

much love.

if you made it this far down the page

peace be in your house and family

and

God Bless you.

]]>https://paulstatchen.wordpress.com/2016/03/31/2530/feed/0paulstatchenWhatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work or device or knowledge or wisdom in the grave where you are going.https://paulstatchen.wordpress.com/2016/03/31/2492/
https://paulstatchen.wordpress.com/2016/03/31/2492/#respondThu, 31 Mar 2016 20:34:36 +0000http://paulstatchen.wordpress.com/?p=2492

does wisdom mean letting go? does forgivness mean starting over? does honesty thru mercy, forgiveness and grace mean life? does river of eternal life mean eternal forgiveness and mercy?

I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

Blessed [is] the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.

Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work or device or knowledge or wisdom in the grave where you are going.

For I considered all this in my heart, so that I could declare it all: that the righteous and the wise and their works are in the hand of God. People know neither love nor hatred by anything they see before them. 2 All things come alike to all:

One event happens to the righteous and the wicked;
To the good,[a] the clean, and the unclean;
To him who sacrifices and him who does not sacrifice.
As is the good, so is the sinner;
He who takes an oath as he who fears an oath.

3 This is an evil in all that is done under the sun: that one thing happens to all. Truly the hearts of the sons of men are full of evil; madness is in their hearts while they live, and after that they go to the dead. 4 But for him who is joined to all the living there is hope, for a living dog is better than a dead lion.

5
For the living know that they will die;
But the dead know nothing,
And they have no more reward,
For the memory of them is forgotten.

6
Also their love, their hatred, and their envy have now perished;
Nevermore will they have a share
In anything done under the sun.

9 Live joyfully with the wife whom you love all the days of your vain life which He has given you under the sun, all your days of vanity; for that is your portion in life, and in the labor which you perform under the sun.

10 Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work or device or knowledge or wisdom in the grave where you are going.

11 I returned and saw under the sun that—

The race is not to the swift,
Nor the battle to the strong,
Nor bread to the wise,
Nor riches to men of understanding,
Nor favor to men of skill;
But time and chance happen to them all.

12
For man also does not know his time:
Like fish taken in a cruel net,
Like birds caught in a snare,
So the sons of men are snared in an evil time,
When it falls suddenly upon them.

Practical wisdom, virtue of character and friendship

Process Spirituality: Trust, Gratitude, and Contentment

Wisdom, Knowledge, Righteousness, and Diligence

Friendship, practical wisdom, and diligence

10 Then I saw the wicked buried, who had come and gone from the place of holiness, and they were forgotten[a] in the city where they had so done. This also is vanity. 11 Because the sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil. 12 Though a sinner does evil a hundred times, and his days are prolonged, yet I surely know that it will be well with those who fear God, who fear before Him. 13 But it will not be well with the wicked; nor will he prolong his days, which are as a shadow, because he does not fear before God.

14 There is a vanity which occurs on earth, that there are just men to whom it happens according to the work of the wicked; again, there are wicked men to whom it happens according to the work of the righteous. I said that this also is vanity.

15 So I commended enjoyment, because a man has nothing better under the sun than to eat, drink, and be merry; for this will remain with him in his labor all the days of his life which God gives him under the sun.

16 When I applied my heart to know wisdom and to see the business that is done on earth, even though one sees no sleep day or night, 17 then I saw all the work of God, that a man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun. For though a man labors to discover it, yet he will not find it; moreover, though a wise man attempts to know it, he will not be able to find it.

3. Process Spirituality: Trust, Gratitude, and Contentment

Our culture teaches us that people are basically good and that their internal problems are the result of external circumstances. But Jesus taught that no outside-in program will rectify the human condition, since our fundamental problems stem from within (Mark 7:20-23). Holiness is never achieved by acting ourselves into a new way of being. Instead, it is a gift that God graciously implants within the core of those who have trusted in Christ. All holiness is the holiness of God within us—the indwelling life of Christ. Thus, the process of sanctification is the gradual diffusion of this life from the inside (being) to the outside (doing), so that we become in action what we already are in essence. Our efforts faithfully reveal what is within us, so that when we are dominated by the flesh we will do the deeds of the flesh, and when we walk by the Spirit we will bear the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:16-26).

A Process from the Inside to the Outside

Holiness is a new quality of life that progressively flows from the inside to the outside. As J. I. Packer outlines it in Keep in Step with the Spirit, the nature of holiness is transformation through consecration; the context of holiness is justification through Jesus Christ; the root of holiness is co-crucifixion and co-resurrection with Jesus Christ; the agent of holiness is the Holy Spirit; the experience of holiness is one of conflict; the rule of holiness is God’s revealed law; and the heart of holiness is the spirit of love. When we come to know Jesus we are destined for heaven because He has already implanted His heavenly life within us. The inside-out process of the spiritual life is the gradual outworking of this kingdom righteousness. This involves a divine-human synergism of dependence and discipline so that the power of the Spirit is manifested through the formation of holy habits. As Augustine put it, “Without God we cannot; without us, He will not.” Disciplined grace and graceful discipline go together in such a way that God-given holiness is expressed through the actions of obedience. Spiritual formation is not a matter of total passivity or of unaided moral endeavor, but of increasing responsiveness to God’s gracious initiatives. The holy habits of immersion in Scripture, acknowledging God in all things, and learned obedience make us more receptive to the influx of grace and purify our aspirations and actions.

“Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God” (1 John 3:21). It is wise to form the habit of inviting God to search your heart and reveal “any hurtful way” (Psalm 139:23) within you. Sustained attention to the heart, the wellspring of action, is essential to the formative process. By inviting Jesus to examine our intentions and priorities, we open ourselves to His good but often painful work of exposing our manipulative and self-seeking strategies, our hardness of heart (often concealed in religious activities), our competitively-driven resentments, and our pride. “A humble understanding of yourself is a surer way to God than a profound searching after knowledge” (Thomas a Kempis, The Imitation of Christ). Self-examining prayer or journaling in the presence of God will enable us to descend below the surface of our emotions and actions and to discern sinful patterns that require repentance and renewal. Since spiritual formation is a process, it is a good practice to compare yourself now with where you have been. Are you progressing in Christlike qualities like love, patience, kindness, forgiveness, compassion, understanding, servanthood, and hope? To assist you, here is a prayer sequence for examination and encouragement that incorporates the ten commandments, the Lord’s prayer, the beatitudes, the seven deadly sins, the four cardinal and three theological virtues, and the fruit of the Spirit. This can serve as a kind of spiritual diagnostic tool:

Search me, O God, and know my heart;
Try me and know my anxious thoughts;
And see if there be any hurtful way in me,
And lead me in the everlasting way. (Psalm 139:23-24)

Watch over your heart with all diligence,
For from it flow the springs of life. (Proverbs 4:23)

The Ten Commandments

You shall have no other gods before Me.

You shall not make for yourself an idol.

You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.

Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.

Honor your father and your mother.

You shall not murder.

You shall not commit adultery.

You shall not steal.

You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

You shall not covet.

The Lord’s Prayer

Our Father who is in heaven,

Hallowed be Your name.

Your kingdom come,

Your will be done,

On earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.

And do not lead us into temptation,

But deliver us from evil.

For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.

The Beatitudes

Poverty of spirit (nothing apart from God’s grace)

Mourning (contrition)

Gentleness (meekness, humility)

Hunger and thirst for righteousness

Merciful to others

Purity of heart (desiring Christ above all else)

Peacemaking

Bearing persecution for the sake of righteousness

The Seven Deadly Sins

Pride

Avarice

Envy

Wrath

Sloth

Lust

Gluttony

The Four Cardinal and Three Theological Virtues

Prudence (wisdom, discernment, clear thinking, common sense)

Temperance (moderation, self-control)

Justice (fairness, honesty, truthfulness, integrity)

Fortitude (courage, conviction)

Faith (belief and trust in God’s character and work)

Hope (anticipating God’s promises)

Love (willing the highest good for others, compassion)

The Fruit of the Spirit

Love

Joy

Peace

Patience

Kindness

Goodness

Faithfulness

Gentleness

Self-control

Letting Loose of Control and Results

One of the great enemies of process spirituality is the craving to control our environment and the desire to determine the results of our endeavors. Many of us have a natural inclination to be manipulators, grabbers, owners, and controllers. The more we seek to rule our world, the more we will resist the rule of Christ; those who grasp are afraid of being grasped by God. But until we relinquish ownership of our lives, we will not experience the holy relief of surrender to God’s good and loving purposes. Thomas Merton put it this way in New Seeds of Contemplation:

This is one of the chief contradictions that sin has brought into our souls: we have to do violence to ourselves to keep from laboring uselessly for what is bitter and without joy, and we have to compel ourselves to take what is easy and full of happiness as though it were against our interests, because for us the line of least resistance leads in the way of greatest hardship and sometimes for us to do what is, in itself, most easy, can be the hardest thing in the world.

Our resistance to God’s rule even extends to our prayerful attempts to persuade the Lord to bless our plans and to meet our needs in the ways we deem best. Instead of seeking God’s will in prayer, we hope to induce Him to accomplish our will. Thus, even in our prayers, we can adopt the mentality of a consumer rather than a servant.

Perhaps the most painful lesson for believers to learn is the wisdom of being faithful to the process and letting loose of the results.

Opportunity

Obedience

Outcome

Divine Sovereignty

Human Responsibility

Divine Sovereignty

We have little control over opportunities we encounter and the outcomes of our efforts, but we can be obedient to the process.

Distorted dreams and selfish ambitions must die before we can know the way of resurrection. We cannot be responsive to God’s purposes until we abandon our strategies to control and acknowledge His exclusive ownership of our lives. At the front end, this surrender to the life of Christ in us appears to be the way of renunciation, but on the other side of renunciation we discover that it is actually the way of affirmation. “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it” (Luke 9:24). The better we apprehend our spiritual poverty and weakness, the more we will be willing to invite Jesus to increase so that we may decrease (John 3:30).

Another key to staying in the process is learning to receive each day and whatever it brings as from the hand of God. Instead of viewing God’s character in light of our circumstances, we should view our circumstances in light of God’s character. Because God’s character is unchanging and good, whatever circumstances He allows in the life of His children are for their good, even though they may not seem so at the time. Since His will for us is “good and acceptable and perfect” (Romans 12:2), the trials, disappointments, setbacks, tasks, and adversities we encounter are, from an eternal vantage point, the place of God’s kingdom and blessing. This Romans 8:28-39 perspective can change the way we pray. Instead of asking the Lord to change our circumstances to suit us, we can ask Him to use our circumstances to change us. Realizing that “the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us” (Romans 8:18), we can experience “the fellowship of [Christ’s] sufferings” through “the power of His resurrection” (Philippians 3:10). Thus, Blaise Pascal prayed in his Pensees:

With perfect consistency of mind, help me to receive all manner of events. For we know not what to ask, and we cannot ask for one event rather than another without presumption. We cannot desire a specific action without presuming to be a judge, and assuming responsibility for what in Your wisdom You may hide from me. O Lord, I know only one thing, and that is that it is good to follow You and wicked to offend You. Beyond this, I do not know what is good for me, whether health or sickness, riches or poverty, or anything else in this world. This knowledge surpasses both the wisdom of men and of angels. It lies hidden in the secrets of Your providence, which I adore, and will not dare to pry open.

We are essentially spiritual beings, and each “today” that is received with gratitude from God’s hand contributes to our preparation for our glorious and eternal destiny in His presence. In “the sacrament of the present moment” as Jean-Pierre de Caussade described it, “It is only right that if we are discontented with what God offers us every moment, we should be punished by finding nothing else that will content us” (Abandonment to Divine Providence). It is when we learn to love God’s will that we can embrace the present moment as a source of spiritual formation.

As we grow in dependence on Christ’s life and diminish in dependence on our own, the fulfillment of receiving His life gradually replaces the frustration of trying to create our own. It is in this place of conscious dependence that God shapes us into the image of His Son. Here we must trust Him for the outcome, because we cannot measure or quantify the spiritual life. We know that we are in a formative process and that God is not finished with us yet, but we must also remember that we cannot control or create the product. Furthermore, we cannot measure our ministry or impact on others in this life. If we forget this, we will be in a hurry to accomplish significant things by the world’s standard of reckoning. Francois Fenelon noted that “the soul, by the neglect of little things, becomes accustomed to unfaithfulness” (Christian Perfection). It is faithfulness in the little daily things that leads to faithfulness in much (Luke 16:10). Henri Nouwen used to ask God to get rid of his interruptions so he could get on with his ministry. “Then I realized that interruptions are my ministry.” As servants and ambassadors of the King, we must be obedient in the daily process even when we cannot see what difference our obedience makes.

Cultivating a Heart of Gratitude

A young man with a bandaged hand approached the clerk at the post office. “Sir, could you please address this post card for me?” The clerk did so gladly, and then agreed to write a message on the card.

He then asked, “Is there anything else I can do for you?” The young man looked at the card for a moment and then said, “Yes, add a PS: ‘Please excuse the handwriting.’”

We are an ungrateful people. Writing of man in Notes from the Underground, Dostoevsky says, “If he is not stupid, he is monstrously ungrateful! Phenomenally ungrateful. In fact, I believe that the best definition of man is the ungrateful biped.” Luke’s account of the cleansing of the ten lepers underscores the human tendency to expect grace as our due and to forget to thank God for His benefits. “Were there not ten cleansed? But the nine—where are they? Was no one found who turned back to give glory to God, except this foreigner?” (Luke 17:17-18).

Remember: God’s Deliverance in the Past

Our calendar allocates one day to give thanks to God for His many benefits, and even that day is more consumed with gorging than with gratitude. Ancient Israel’s calendar included several annual festivals to remind the people of God’s acts of deliverance and provision so that they would renew their sense of gratitude and reliance upon the Lord.

In spite of this, they forgot: “they became disobedient and rebelled against You . . . . they did not remember Your abundant kindnesses . . . . they quickly forgot His works” (Nehemiah 9:26; Psalm 106:7, 13). The prophet Hosea captured the essence of this decline into ingratitude: “As they had their pasture, they became satisfied, and being satisfied, their heart became proud; therefore, they forgot Me” (13:6). When we are doing well, we tend to think that our prosperity was self-made; this delusion leads us into the folly of pride; pride makes us forget God and prompts us to rely on ourselves in place of our Creator; this forgetfulness always leads to ingratitude.

Centuries earlier, Moses warned the children of Israel that they would be tempted to forget the Lord once they began to enjoy the blessings of the promised land. “Then your heart will become proud and you will forget the Lord your God who brought you out from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. . . . Otherwise, you may say in your heart, ‘My power and the strength of my hand made me this wealth’” (Deuteronomy 8:14, 17). The antidote to this spiritual poison is found in the next verse: “But you shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He who is giving you power to make wealth” (8:18).

Our propensity to forget is a mark of our fallenness. Because of this, we should view remembering and gratitude as a discipline, a daily and intentional act, a conscious choice. If it is limited to spontaneous moments of emotional gratitude, it will gradually erode and we will forget all that God has done for us and take His grace for granted.

Remember: God’s Benefits in the Present

“Rebellion against God does not begin with the clenched fist of atheism but with the self-satisfied heart of the one for whom ‘thank you’ is redundant” (Os Guinness, In Two Minds). The apostle Paul exposes the error of this thinking when he asks, “What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?” (1 Corinthians 4:7). Even as believers in Christ, it is quite natural to overlook the fact that all that we have and are—our health, our intelligence, our abilities, our very lives—are gifts from the hand of God, and not our own creation. We understand this, but few of us actively acknowledge our utter reliance upon the Lord throughout the course of the week. We rarely review the many benefits we enjoy in the present. And so we forget.

We tend toward two extremes when we forget to remember God’s benefits in our lives. The first extreme is presumption, and this is the error we have been discussing. When things are going “our way,” we may forget God or acknowledge Him in a shallow or mechanical manner. The other extreme is resentment and bitterness due to difficult circumstances. When we suffer setbacks or losses, we wonder why we are not doing as well as others and develop a mindset of murmuring and complaining. We may attribute it to “bad luck” or “misfortune” or not “getting the breaks,” but it really boils down to dissatisfaction with God’s provision and care. This lack of contentment and gratitude stems in part from our efforts to control the content of our lives in spite of what Christ may or may not desire for us to have. It also stems from our tendency to focus on what we do not possess rather than all the wonderful things we have already received.

“Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18). We cannot give thanks and complain at the same time. To give thanks is to remember the spiritual and material blessings we have received and to be content with what our loving Lord provides, even when it does not correspond to what we had in mind. Gratitude is a choice, not merely a feeling, and it requires effort especially in difficult times. But the more we choose to live in the discipline of conscious thanksgiving, the more natural it becomes, and the more our eyes are opened to the little things throughout the course of the day that we previously overlooked. G. K. Chesterton had a way of acknowledging these many little benefits: “You say grace before meals. All right. But I say grace before the concert and the opera, and grace before the play and pantomime, and grace before I open a book, and grace before sketching, painting, swimming, fencing, boxing, walking, playing, dancing and grace before I dip the pen in the ink.” Henri Nouwen observed that “every gift I acknowledge reveals another and another until, finally, even the most normal, obvious, and seemingly mundane event or encounter proves to be filled with grace.”

Remember: God’s Promises for the Future

If we are not grateful for God’s deliverance in the past and His benefits in the present, we will not be grateful for His promises for the future. Scripture exhorts us to lay hold of our hope in Christ and to renew it frequently so that we will maintain God’s perspective on our present journey. His plans for His children exceed our imagination, and it is His intention to make all things new, to wipe away every tear, and to “show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus” in the ages to come (Ephesians 2:7).

Make it a daily exercise, either at the beginning or the end of the day, to review God’s benefits in your past, present, and future. This discipline will be pleasing to God, because it will cultivate a heart of gratitude and ongoing thanksgiving.

The Secret of Contentment

“We want a whole race perpetually in pursuit of the rainbow’s end, never honest, nor kind, nor happy now, but always using as mere fuel wherewith to heap the altar of the future every real gift which is offered them in the Present.” Uncle Screwtape’s diabolical counsel to his nephew Wormwood in C. S. Lewis’ The Screwtape Letters is a reminder that most of us live more in the future than in the present. Somehow we think that the days ahead will make up for what we perceive to be our present lack. We think, “When I get this or when that happens, then I’ll be happy,” but this is an exercise in self-deception that overlooks the fact that even when we get what we want, it never delivers what it promised.

Most of us don’t know precisely what we want, but we are certain we don’t have it. Driven by dissatisfaction, we pursue the treasure at the end of the rainbow and rarely drink deeply at the well of the present moment, which is all we ever have. The truth is that if we are not satisfied with what we have, we will never be satisfied with what we want.

The real issue of contentment is whether it is Christ or ourselves who determine the content (e.g., money, position, family, circumstances) of our lives. When we seek to control the content, we inevitably turn to the criterion of comparison to measure what it should look like. The problem is that comparison is the enemy of contentment—there will always be people who possess a greater quality or quantity of what we think we should have. Because of this, comparison leads to covetousness. Instead of loving our neighbors, we find ourselves loving what they possess.

Covetousness in turn leads to a competitive spirit. We find ourselves competing with others for the limited resources to which we think we are entitled. Competition often becomes a vehicle through which we seek to authenticate our identity or prove our capability. This kind of competition tempts us to compromise our character. When we want something enough, we may be willing to steamroll our convictions in order to attain it. We find ourselves cutting corners, misrepresenting the truth, cheating, or using people as objects to accomplish our self-driven purposes.

It is only when we allow Christ to determine the content of our lives that we can discover the secret of contentment. Instead of comparing ourselves with others, we must realize that the Lord alone knows what is best for us and loves us enough to use our present circumstances to accomplish eternal good. We can be content when we put our hope in His character rather than our own concept of how our lives should appear.

Writing from prison to the believers in Philippi, Paul affirmed that “I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need” (Philippians 4:11-12). Contentment is not found in having everything, but in being satisfied with everything we have. As the Apostle told Timothy, “we have brought nothing into the world, so we cannot take anything out of it either. If we have food and covering, with these we shall be content” (1 Timothy 6:7-8). Paul acknowledged God’s right to determine his circumstances, even if it meant taking him down to nothing. His contentment was grounded not in how much he had but in the One who had him. Job understood this when he said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I shall return there. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord” (Job 1:21). The more we release temporal possessions, the more we can grasp eternal treasures. There are times when God may take away our toys to force us to transfer our affections to Christ and His character.

A biblical understanding of contentment leads to a sense of our competency in Christ. “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13). As Peter put it, “His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness” (2 Peter 1:3). “Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God” (2 Corinthians 3:5). Contentment is not the fulfillment of what we want, but the realization of how much we already possess in Christ.

A vision of our competency in Christ enables us to respond to others with compassion rather than competition, because we understand that our fundamental needs are fulfilled in the security and significance we have found in Him. Since we are complete in Christ, we are free to serve others instead of using them in the quest to meet our needs. Thus we are liberated to pursue character rather than comfort and convictions rather than compromise.

Notice the contrast between the four horizontal pairs in this chart:

WHO DETERMINES THE CONTENT OF YOUR LIFE?

SELF

CHRIST

Comparison

Covetousness

Competition

Compromise

Contentment

Competency

Compassion

Character

As we learn the secret of contentment, we will be less impressed by numbers, less driven to achieve, less hurried, and more alive to the grace of the present moment.

Psalm 17New King James Version (NKJV)

Hear a just cause, O Lord,Attend to my cry;Give ear to my prayer which is not from deceitful lips.2 Let my vindication come from Your presence;Let Your eyes look on the things that are upright.

3 You have tested my heart;You have visited me in the night;You have tried me and have found nothing;I have purposed that my mouth shall not transgress.4 Concerning the works of men,By the word of Your lips,I have kept away from the paths of the destroyer.5 Uphold my steps in Your paths,That my footsteps may not slip.

6 I have called upon You, for You will hear me, O God;Incline Your ear to me, and hear my speech.7 Show Your marvelous lovingkindness by Your right hand,O You who save those who trust in YouFrom those who rise up against them.8 Keep me as the apple of Your eye;Hide me under the shadow of Your wings,9 From the wicked who oppress me,From my deadly enemies who surround me.

10 They have closed up their fat hearts;With their mouths they speak proudly.11 They have now surrounded us in our steps;They have set their eyes, crouching down to the earth,12 As a lion is eager to tear his prey,And like a young lion lurking in secret places.

13 Arise, O Lord,Confront him, cast him down;Deliver my life from the wicked with Your sword,14 With Your hand from men, O Lord,From men of the world who have their portion in this life,And whose belly You fill with Your hidden treasure.They are satisfied with children,And leave the rest of their possession for their babes.

15 As for me, I will see Your face in righteousness;I shall be satisfied when I awake in Your likeness.

What are the four levels of friendship?

Friendship

understanding four levels of friendship

Friendships are important to God because of the tremendous influence they hold over our lives. We often make many decisions based on the counsel of friends, and through friendship, we can significantly impact the lives of others. Therefore it is critical to follow God’s guidance in establishing friendships.

Every Christian is instructed to “be a vessel unto honor, sanctified, and meet for the master’s use, and prepared unto every good work. . . . [He is to] follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart”(II Timothy 2:22).

Discern the Four Levels of Friendship

Many people lack a clear understanding of the levels of friendship, which involve specific freedoms and responsibilities, depending on the closeness of the relationship. The four levels of friendship are (1) acquaintance, (2) casual friendship, (3) close friendship (fellowship), and (4) intimate friendship.

Acquaintance

This level of friendship is characterized by occasional contacts. Regard each introduction to a new acquaintance as a divine appointment. Learn and remember his name and greet him by name during your next encounter.

Be prepared to ask him general questions that will provide “public” information. For example, you might ask a person, “Where do you work?” or “Where do you go to school?” Your questions will demonstrate your acceptance and sincere interest in him.

Questions can be like arrows in a hunter’s hands: Take a question out of your “quiver” and guide it to its destination. If you miss the target, that is, if your question does not help you get to know the person better, take another question out of your quiver and try again. When you are prepared to ask good questions, you are free to concentrate on what the other person says and then use additional questions to maintain the conversation. Be a good listener as your new acquaintance responds to your questions.

Casual Friendship

A casual friendship can develop quickly, even during your initial contact with an individual. As you discover common interests, activities, and concerns, you may be given freedom to ask more personal questions. For example, you could ask questions about his goals, wishes, or opinions.

As your casual friendship develops, it is important to discover your friend’s strengths and praise him for positive character traits that you observe. A good friendship will build Godly character in both your lives. Be honest about yourself and acknowledge your own weaknesses when appropriate.

Be a trustworthy friend. Learn about his hopes and goals in life; show interest and sincere concern if he shares problems with you. Pray for him.

Close Friendship (Fellowship)

A casual friendship involves oneness of the soul (the mind, will, and emotions), but a close friendship—fellowship—reflects oneness of spirit. We can have many acquaintances and casual friendships with both believers and non-believers. However, true fellowship requires that both persons share the same life goals.

The Lord instructs us to “consider [observe fully] one another to provoke [incite] unto love and to good works”(Hebrews 10:24). This third level of friendship carries with it the responsibility to picture true achievement for one another, exhorting “one another daily . . . lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin”(Hebrews 3:13). Discuss specific goals in your lives; identify potential hindrances to achieving those goals; creatively design projects to help you reach your goals.

Fellowship is “walking in the Light.” “God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. . . . If we walk in the light, as he [Christ] is in the light, we have fellowship one with another . . .”(I John 1:5, 7). Your fellowship should include investments in projects that will equip you to achieve your life goals.

Intimate Friendship

The fourth, and deepest, level of friendship should be based on a commitment to generously invest in one another’s lives with the goal of helping each other mature in Godly character. Honesty, humility, and discretion are requirements of an intimate friendship. Comfort one another through trials and sorrows; pray diligently for one another.

At this level, friends have freedom to correct one another and point out each other’s blind spots. Don’t simply point out character deficiencies; discern their causes and suggest solutions. Search the Scriptures for keys to solutions, and be a faithful, loyal friend as you encourage one another to pursue spiritual maturity.

Decide to Seek God Concerning Friendship

Friends influence our lives daily, encouraging us to pursue a closer walk with God or discouraging us from following Christ. Every believer should make three basic decisions about friendships:

Let God choose your friends based on their desire for God’s best, your ability to share with them, and their ability to share with you. “Exhort one another daily . . . lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin”(Hebrews 3:13). True friends exhort and encourage one another.

Purpose to verbally identify with Christ whenever you are asked to compromise. Learn to “stand alone” against evil. With a loving and meek spirit, be quick to explain, “I have given my life to the Lord Jesus Christ, and I am not able to do that.”

Realize that those who reject Christ should reject you. You can have casual friendships with non-believers, but you should not have intimate friendships with non-believers, because you do not share the same goals. (See Proverbs 13:20.)

Discover Biblical Insights About Friendship

Does God have anything to say about your friendships? He sure does! The Bible shares a lot of instruction on this subject. Here are a few examples of what God has to say about friendship:

“Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend”(Proverbs 27:17).

“Make no friendship with an angry man; and with a furious man thou shalt not go: lest thou learn his ways, and get a snare to thy soul”(Proverbs 22:24-25).

“A friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born for adversity”(Proverbs 17:17).

“. . . A whisperer separateth chief friends”(Proverbs 16:28).

“A man that hath friends must show himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother”(Proverbs 18:24).

“Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful”(Proverbs 27:6).

“He that walketh with wise men shall be wise: but a companion of fools shall be destroyed”(Proverbs 13:20).

“Ointment and perfume rejoice the heart: so doth the sweetness of a man’s friend by hearty counsel”(Proverbs 27:9).

“Henceforth I [Jesus] call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you”(John 15:15).

Ecclesiastes 7 • The Practical Application of Wisdom

Introduction

How do you measure wisdom? Wisdom is not necessarily the same thing as intelligence and other attributes associated with creativity and brain power. Is wisdom proved by credentials or achievements or a minimum score on an IQ test? The biblical definition of wisdom is, believe it or not, extremely measurable both by God and man. The proof is in the teaching of this chapter in which we are presented with the tangible proofs of the existence of biblical wisdom in any given life. These are the visible results of the practical application of biblical wisdom in our life—or the absence of same.

1A good name is better than a good ointment,

And the day of one’s death is better than the day of one’s birth.

2It is better to go to a house of mourning

Than to go to a house of feasting,

Because that is the end of every man,

And the living takes it to heart.

3Sorrow is better than laughter,

For when a face is sad a heart may be happy.

4The mind of the wise is in the house of mourning,

While the mind of fools is in the house of pleasure.

5It is better to listen to the rebuke of a wise man

Than for one to listen to the song of fools.

6For as the crackling of thorn bushes under a pot,

So is the laughter of the fool;

And this too is futility.

7For oppression makes a wise man mad,

And a bribe corrupts the heart.

8The end of a matter is better than its beginning;

Patience of spirit is better than haughtiness of spirit.

9Do not be eager in your heart to be angry,

For anger resides in the bosom of fools.

10Do not say, “Why is it that the former days were better than these?”

For it is not from wisdom that you ask about this.

11Wisdom along with an inheritance is good

And an advantage to those who see the sun.

12For wisdom is protection just as money is protection,

But the advantage of knowledge is that wisdom preserves the lives of its possessors.

13Consider the work of God,

For who is able to straighten what He has bent?

14In the day of prosperity be happy,

But in the day of adversity consider—

God has made the one as well as the other

So that man will not discover anything that will be after him.

[Read v.1-14]

Q: Examples are given to show what specific form the application of biblical wisdom should take in life. List and re-state each characteristic in your own way. Provide a brief explanation of why each particular quality may be important. (Let the group discuss; these are provided to help facilitate discussion.)

(v.1) Maintains a good reputation. Provides the basis for a personal testimony to others of God’s working in one’s life.

(v.2-4) Frequent meditation on mortality. Prevents becoming overly-fixated on the things of this life, focused on the eternal life to come.

(v.5-6) Listening to wise rebuke and shunning the mirth of fools. Rather than being swayed by the temporal ways of this world, seeking to be evermore refined for the kingdom.

(v.7) Avoidance of behaviors producing oppression and injustice (bribery). True spiritual authority is always tempered with love and mercy and never seeking to elevate one’s self at the expense of another.

(v.8) Patience to see things through properly. Is a model of endurance to do the right thing regardless of the circumstances. This is the practical expression of the presence of faith in action.

(v.9) In control of anger. Is able to admonish, rebuke, or even chastise another with the appropriate tone for the maximum benefit of all involved.

(v.10) Resisting the urge to look back and live in the past. Recognizes the need to fix the present in order to assure the future.

(v.11-12) Lives a sanctified (dedicated) life to God’s ways. Not a part-time Christian but wholly devoted to God’s path alone.

(v.13) Submits to the will of God. Not only understands but lives according to the notion that one’s knowledge is incomplete and God must be trusted for the whole.

(v.14) Content in all circumstances, recognizing that God is in control. Resistant to being pulled to extremes, living moderately so as to maintain the proper spiritual balance.

Q: Do these sound like unrealistic, “lofty” goals of wisdom that only a unique knowledge or extraordinary intelligence can possess?

A: No. They all have in common obedience to God’s Word and its foremost commands to love God and love our neighbor.

Point: By the examples of its practical application, the definition of biblical wisdom is to live faithfully according to God’s Word. Note how there is no insistence that proof of the existence of biblical wisdom is the ability to decipher prophecy, discern difficult mysteries, or speak new revelations. Biblical wisdom is the antithesis of worldly wisdom because it is wholly based on the degree to which one puts God’s Word into practice in their life.

For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written,

“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,

And the cleverness of the clever I will set aside.”

Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. For indeed Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

1 Corinthians 1:18-25

15I have seen everything during my lifetime of futility; there is a righteous man who perishes in his righteousness and there is a wicked man who prolongs his life in his wickedness. 16Do not be excessively righteous and do not be overly wise. Why should you ruin yourself? 17Do not be excessively wicked and do not be a fool. Why should you die before your time? 18It is good that you grasp one thing and also not let go of the other; for the one who fears God comes forth with both of them.

[Read v.15-18]

Q: What is the message of v.15 in the apparent discrepancy between a righteous man and a wicked man as observed here?

A: There is no guarantee in this life that being righteous automatically extends this life and wickedness automatically cuts it short. Final judgment comes after this life, which we must be prepared to acknowledge is not always fair and equitable during its short span.

Q: It’s probably easy to envision what it means to be “excessively wicked” (v.17), but how is it possible to be “excessively righteous and…overly wise”? (v.16)

A: Think of the example of the Pharisees in Jesus’ time. They had elevated earthly “righteousness” to the point that they added hundreds and thousands of additions to God’s Law, what Jesus termed “traditions of men”. Their pursuit of “righteousness” became a thing unto itself, its own institution that was worshiped in place of the One True God the original Torah pointed to.

Application: Do you know someone that seems to be more concerned about the rules than the heart? What are some of the cults and false teachings you’ve observed which in the end replace God with the burden of rules and institutions and traditions?

Q: What is the antidote? What ensures that we maintain the right path to God?

A: According to v.18, the fear of God. To the same degree that we fear God enough to voluntarily refrain from engaging in sin and wickedness, so our fear of Him is greater than the traditions of men that they try to impose on us.

INTRODUCTIONGod values diligence in His people, as evidenced by the numerous references to diligence in the book of Proverbs. Here are a few examples:Diligent hands will rule, but laziness ends in slave labor. (12:24)
All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty. (14:2)3
The sluggard craves and gets nothing, but the desires of the diligent are fully satisfied. (13:4)

TWO EXAMPLES OF DILIGENCE

The Proverbs 31 WomanIn the last chapter of Proverbs, King Lemuel describes a godly woman whose life is characterized by diligence as well as other qualities. This is a description of a type of woman and not necessarily a specific individual. Many of the descriptors refer directly to her investment of her time and energies.

She selects wool and flax and works with eager hands. (13)
She gets up while it is still dark…(15)
She sets about her work vigorously; her arms are strong for her tasks. (17)
She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness. (27)

EpaphrasThere are many other people in Scripture who exhibit diligence. One such person is Epaphras. Epaphras is mentioned only two times in Scripture. He probably started the church in Colossae. At the end of Paul’s letter to the Colossians, he writes this about Epaphras:Epaphras, who is one of you and a servant of Christ Jesus, sends greetings. He is always wrestling in prayer for you, that you may stand firm in all the will of God, mature and fully assured. I vouch for him that he is working hard for you and for those at Laodicea and Hierapolis. (4:12-13)In these two brief sentences the diligence of Epaphras, including his diligence in prayer, was spoken of twice. He did not just pray, but he “always wrestled in prayer”. And what is there that requires more work, focus and energy than prayer?! Paul also testified that Epaphras was “working hard” for the believers at the young churches. Epaphras’ diligence was making an eternal difference in the lives of believers in that time!

DILIGENCE IN OUR LIVESDiligence needs to be more than a theoretical concept we discuss. For it to become an ingrained character quality it must be practiced daily. That means we must will and strive to be diligent. Some practical evidences of diligence we can see in our lives today are seen in the following “I will” statements:

I will finish my projects.

I will do a job right.

I will follow instructions.

I will concentrate on my work.

I will not be lazy.

DISCUSSIONDivide into pairs and discuss:

Think of a person you know who is diligent. Describe what you observe in this person that causes you to call them diligent.

What are some of the benefits of being diligent?
(Some possible answers: pleases God, thoughtful and considerate of others, meets deadlines, good team player)

DILIGENCE IN MY LIFE THIS WEEKSpend a few minutes in personal reflection:

How has a lack of diligence negatively affected your life in the past month? (It can be your own lack of diligence or another person’s lack of diligence.)

If it was your lack of diligence, what will you do to remedy the situation? Who will help you?

OR

If it was not your lack of diligence, reflect on the “I will” statements. Which one is the easiest for you to follow? Which one is the most difficult? Why? What will you do to improve? Who will help you?

The Value of Practical Wisdom

7 A good name is better than precious ointment,

And the day of death than the day of one’s birth;2 Better to go to the house of mourningThan to go to the house of feasting,For that is the end of all men;And the living will take it to heart.3 Sorrow is better than laughter,For by a sad countenance the heart is made better.4 The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning,But the heart of fools is in the house of mirth.

5 It is better to hear the rebuke of the wiseThan for a man to hear the song of fools.6 For like the crackling of thorns under a pot,So is the laughter of the fool.This also is vanity.7 Surely oppression destroys a wise man’s reason,And a bribe debases the heart.

8 The end of a thing is better than its beginning;The patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit.9 Do not hasten in your spirit to be angry,For anger rests in the bosom of fools.10 Do not say,“Why were the former days better than these?”For you do not inquire wisely concerning this.

11 Wisdom is good with an inheritance,And profitable to those who see the sun.12 For wisdom is a defense as money is a defense,But the excellence of knowledge is that wisdom gives life to those who have it.

13 Consider the work of God;For who can make straight what He has made crooked?14 In the day of prosperity be joyful,But in the day of adversity consider:Surely God has appointed the one as well as the other,So that man can find out nothing that will come after him.

15 I have seen everything in my days of vanity:

There is a just man who perishes in his righteousness,And there is a wicked man who prolongs life in his wickedness.16 Do not be overly righteous,Nor be overly wise:Why should you destroy yourself?17 Do not be overly wicked,Nor be foolish:Why should you die before your time?18 It is good that you grasp this,And also not remove your hand from the other;For he who fears God will escape them all.

19 Wisdom strengthens the wiseMore than ten rulers of the city.

20 For there is not a just man on earth who does goodAnd does not sin.

21 Also do not take to heart everything people say,Lest you hear your servant cursing you.22 For many times, also, your own heart has knownThat even you have cursed others.

23 All this I have proved by wisdom.I said, “I will be wise”;But it was far from me.24 As for that which is far off and exceedingly deep,Who can find it out?25 I applied my heart to know,To search and seek out wisdom and the reason of things,To know the wickedness of folly,Even of foolishness and madness.26 And I find more bitter than deathThe woman whose heart is snares and nets,Whose hands are fetters.He who pleases God shall escape from her,But the sinner shall be trapped by her.

27 Here is what I have found,” says the Preacher,“Adding one thing to the other to find out the reason,28 Which my soul still seeks but I cannot find:One man among a thousand I have found,But a woman among all these I have not found.29 Truly, this only I have found:That God made man upright,But they have sought out many schemes.”

Ecclesiastes 8New King James Version (NKJV)

8 Who is like a wise man?And who knows the interpretation of a thing?A man’s wisdom makes his face shine,And the sternness of his face is changed.

Obey Authorities for God’s Sake

2 I say, “Keep the king’s commandment for the sake of your oath to God. 3 Do not be hasty to go from his presence. Do not take your stand for an evil thing, for he does whatever pleases him.”

4 Where the word of a king is, there is power;And who may say to him, “What are you doing?”5 He who keeps his command will experience nothing harmful;And a wise man’s heart discerns both time and judgment,6 Because for every matter there is a time and judgment,Though the misery of man increases greatly.7 For he does not know what will happen;So who can tell him when it will occur?8 No one has power over the spirit to retain the spirit,And no one has power in the day of death.There is no release from that war,And wickedness will not deliver those who are given to it.

9 All this I have seen, and applied my heart to every work that is done under the sun: There is a time in which one man rules over another to his own hurt.

Psalm 150New King James Version (NKJV)

Let All Things Praise the Lord

150 Praise the Lord!

Praise God in His sanctuary;Praise Him in His mighty firmament!

2 Praise Him for His mighty acts;Praise Him according to His excellent greatness!

3 Praise Him with the sound of the trumpet;Praise Him with the lute and harp!4 Praise Him with the timbrel and dance;Praise Him with stringed instruments and flutes!5 Praise Him with loud cymbals;Praise Him with clashing cymbals!

what does time, perception of time and computers on an internet network have in common?was it all a measure of time?for who? what do we do with measures of time? who schedules what you do with time? if you, how? if someone else, how would you find out? when? who came up with these “time machines”? why? where are WE going with them?

who was willing to die for you? for you all?

“Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour[b]in which the Son of Man is coming.

The Parable of the Talents

14 “Forthe kingdom of heaven islike a man traveling to a far country,whocalled his own servants and delivered his goods to them.

how did humans know to hide? from who in time?

The LORD wraps himself in light as with a garment; he stretches out the heavens like a tent

He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth, and its people are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a canopy, and spreads them out like a tent to live in.

Well, sure, but it commercialized the ideas that Marc Andreessen and Eric Bina came up with in Mosaic, the first graphical browser. That was created when Andreessen was a student at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign — a public institution, last time I checked — and worked with Bina at its National Center for Supercomputing Applications, a joint venture of the school, the state of Illinois and the federal government.

The first recorded description of the social interactions that could be enabled through networking was aseries of memoswritten by J.C.R. Licklider of MIT in August 1962 discussing his “Galactic Network” concept. He envisioned a globally interconnected set of computers through which everyone could quickly access data and programs from any site. In spirit, the concept was very much like the Internet of today. Licklider was the first head of the computer research program at DARPA,4starting in October 1962. While at DARPA he convinced his successors at DARPA, Ivan Sutherland, Bob Taylor, and MIT researcher Lawrence G. Roberts, of the importance of this networking concept.

Computers are good in adding bits. Therefore time is stored in a number of bits, and adding to these bits makes the time go on. The meaning of the value“zero”has to be defined separately (Usually this is called theepoch).

Using more bits can widen the range of the time value, or it can increase the resolution of the stored time.

or thousands of years, devices have been used to measure and keep track oftime. The currentsexagesimalsystemof timemeasurementdates to approximately 2000 BC, inSumer. TheAncient Egyptiansdivided the day into two 12-hour periods, and used largeobelisksto track the movement of the Sun. They also developedwater clocks, which were probably first used in thePrecinct of Amun-Re, and later outside Egypt as well; they were employed frequently by theAncient Greeks, who called themclepsydrae. The Cho Dynasty is believed to have used the outflow water clock around the same time, devices which were introduced fromMesopotamiaas early as 2000 BC. Other ancient timekeeping devices include thecandle clock, used in China, Japan, England and Iraq; thetimestick, widely used in India and Tibet, as well as some parts of Europe; and thehourglass, which functioned similarly to a water clock. Thesundial, an early clock, relies on shadows to provide a good estimate of the hour on a sunny day. It is not so useful in cloudy weather or at night and requires recalibration as the seasons change (if thegnomonwas not aligned with the Earth’s axis). The earliest known clock with a water-poweredescapementmechanism, which transferred rotational energy into intermittent motions,[1]dates back to 3rd century BCancient Greece;[2]Chinese engineerslater invented clocks incorporatingmercury-powered escapement mechanisms in the 10th century,[3]followed byArabic engineersinventing water clocks driven bygearsandweightsin the 11th century.[4]

It seems, then, that thinking about time has the opposite effect on people from thinking about money. It makes them more honest than normal, rather than less so. Moreover, the more reflective they are, the more honest they become. There must be an aphorism in that.

n order to synchronize all of a computer’s operations, a system clock—a small quartz crystal located on the motherboard—is used. The system clock sends out a signal on a regular basis to all other computer components.

And another paragraph:

Many personal computers today have system clocks that run at 200 MHz, and all devices (such as CPUs) that are synchronized with these system clocks run at either the system clock speed or at a multiple of or a fraction of the system clock speed.

Networks that work are usually built on top of other networks that work.

BITNET was piggybacked on top of a network that looked for all the world like a reliable remote card punch network (RJE).

USENET build on top of UUCP, which used whatever networks it could find (modem, X.25, and then later TCP/IP) to do remote file copies.

The first content on the World Wide Web included access to extant anonymous FTP and Gopher systems.

Even Twitter piggybacked on SMS and still does.

So why do you build a new network on top of an old one? Simply put you can ignore a lot of the details of the old system, smooth out its weird spots, and layer some new abstractions on it – without having to run a whole mess of wire and cable just to get started. Later after you have worked out the details of what services you want to build over the top of the underlying nets, you can sort out the infrastructure part.

Today’s personal computers are drastically different from the massive, hulking machines that emerged out of World War II–and the difference isn’t only in their size. By the 1970s, technology had evolved to the point that individuals–mostly hobbyists and electronics buffs–could purchase unassembled PCs or “microcomputers” and program them for fun, but these early PCs could not perform many of the useful tasks that today’s computers can. Users could do mathematical calculations and play simple games, but most of the machines’ appeal lay in their novelty. Today, hundreds of companies sell personal computers, accessories and sophisticated software and games, and PCs are used for a wide range of functions from basic word processing to editing photos to managing budgets. At home and at work, we use our PCs to do almost everything. It is nearly impossible to imagine modern life without them.

why would all of you do what you all have been doing?

Psalm 34:15New King James Version (NKJV)

15 The eyes of theLordareon the righteous,And His earsare opento their cry.

The sad story of Ananias and Sapphira is not some obscure incident from the Old Testament regarding a violation of Mosaic Law. This occurred in the first-century church to believers in Jesus Christ. The story of Ananias and Sapphira is a reminder to us today that God sees the heart (1 Samuel 16:7), that He hates sin, and that He is concerned for the purity of His church (1 Corinthians 11;1 John 5). As Jesus told the compromising church in Thyatira, “All the churches will know that I am he who searches hearts and minds, and I will repay each of you according to your deeds” (Revelation 3:23).http://www.gotquestions.org/Ananias-and-Sapphira.html

Lying to the Holy Spirit

5 But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession.2 And he kept backpartof the proceeds, his wife also being awareof it,and brought a certain part and laiditat the apostles’ feet.3 But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep backpartof the price of the land for yourself?4 While it remained, was it not your own? And after it was sold, was it not in your own control? Why have you conceived this thing in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God.”

5 Then Ananias, hearing these words, fell down and breathed his last. So great fear came upon all those who heard these things.6 And the young men arose and wrapped him up, carriedhimout, and buriedhim.

7 Now it was about three hours later when his wife came in, not knowing what had happened.8 And Peter answered her, “Tell me whether you sold the land for so much?”

She said, “Yes, for so much.”

9 Then Peter said to her, “How is it that you have agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord? Look, the feet of those who have buried your husbandareat the door, and they will carry you out.”10 Then immediately she fell down at his feet and breathed her last. And the young men came in and found her dead, and carryingherout, buriedherby her husband.11 So great fear came upon all the church and upon all who heard these things.

n spite of their mistakes, Rahab and her family loved God, and were called according to His purpose. In spite of their pagan backgrounds they wanted to serve the one true God. When the opportunity to serve Him came along, they recognized it and confidently took advantage when truly promised a conditional salvation from God’s punishment.
How many religious people do you know have that same high confidence in God’s promise of salvation? Enough to obey the conditions witnessed by Jesus in Mark 16:15,16, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.”? Or the conditions witnessed by Peter in Acts 2:38-39, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.”? Or the conditions witnessed by Paul in Romans 6:1-4, “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.” and in Romans 8:1, “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.”
Many religious people deny that God requires repentant believers to be baptized before He will save them … thus they fall short of Rahab’s faith and fail to believe God’s promise.
Many other religious people “baptize” infants who have neither the ability to believe in God nor any sins to repent from having done … thus they fall short of Rahab’s faith and bind others to do likewise by failing to believe God’s promise.
Others feel they may believe in God without actually making the effort of hearing and understanding His instructions for them … and fall short of Rahab’s faith.
Still others see no connection between an informed belief and an active repentant belief … and they fail to believe God’s promise.
Remember, Jericho was full of people who were afraid of God and believed He was real. But only Rahab and her family believed in Him enough to obey Him.
Something to think about.

Down by the river by the boats
Where everybody goes to be alone
Where you won’t see any rising sun
Down to the river we will run

When by the water we drink to the dregs
Look at the stones on the river bed
I can tell from your eyes
You’ve never been by the riverside

Down by the water the riverbed
Somebody calls you somebody says
Swim with the current and float away
Down by the river everyday

Oh my God I see how everything is torn in the river deep
And I don’t know why I go the way
Down by the riverside

When that old river runs pass your eyes
To wash off the dirt on the riverside
Go to the water so very near
The river will be your eyes and ears

I walk to the borders on my own
To fall in the water just like a stone
Chilled to the marrow in them bones
Why do I go here all alone

[x2:]
Oh my God I see how everything is torn in the river deep
And I don’t know why I go the way
Down by the riverside

Oh oh, hey hey [x3]

Down by the riverside [x2]

Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb

down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.

No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him.

They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.

There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever.

did jesus come to mend what we broke? what were covenants? why did we hide?why are we still hiding? is hiding in the dust… death? would you go thru death to save those you love? has someone for you? how would you know?

She is more precious than rubies; nothing you desire can compare with her.

They spend too many moons
Away from their true homes

Put away in corners their supposed to call their own
But the crow still sings, at the break of day

No matter what the sun brings
They’ll still sing their songs and say

Hope it finds us crawling in the dust
Pleading mercy as you plunge right into trust
See you tremble up to stand
Centuries brought us here so we can mend

Please let us meet there in between
Draw down the fruits to change the dream

Yes I will sit you by the tree
Where all the soils mix with seed

How we came here, did we in the start
Cut it into pieces that slowly broke apart

When I fall to cross all boundaries
All the while we scramble for our keys, to

Hope it finds us crawling in the dust

10 And he said to me, “Do not seal the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is at hand. 11 He who is unjust, let him be unjust still; he who is filthy, let him be filthy still; he who is righteous, let him be righteous[e] still; he who is holy, let him be holy still.”

Jesus Testifies to the Churches
12 “And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to every one according to his work. 13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last.”[f]

14 Blessed are those who do His commandments,[g] that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city. 15 But[h] outside are dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and whoever loves and practices a lie.

16 “I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these things in the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, the Bright and Morning Star.”

17 And the Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let him who hears say, “Come!” And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely.

You’re waiting by the phone?
Yeah, just hang it up
I promise you
You’ll never be walking alone!

We’ll make this world our own
Yeah, just come along we promise
You you’ll never be walking alone!

Breath of Life
37 1-2 God grabbed me. God’s Spirit took me up and set me down in the middle of an open plain strewn with bones. He led me around and among them—a lot of bones! There were bones all over the plain—dry bones, bleached by the sun.

3 He said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?”

I said, “Master God, only you know that.”

4 He said to me, “Prophesy over these bones: ‘Dry bones, listen to the Message of God!’”

5-6 God, the Master, told the dry bones, “Watch this: I’m bringing the breath of life to you and you’ll come to life. I’ll attach sinews to you, put meat on your bones, cover you with skin, and breathe life into you. You’ll come alive and you’ll realize that I am God!”

7-8 I prophesied just as I’d been commanded. As I prophesied, there was a sound and, oh, rustling! The bones moved and came together, bone to bone. I kept watching. Sinews formed, then muscles on the bones, then skin stretched over them. But they had no breath in them.

9 He said to me, “Prophesy to the breath. Prophesy, son of man. Tell the breath, ‘God, the Master, says, Come from the four winds. Come, breath. Breathe on these slain bodies. Breathe life!’”

10 So I prophesied, just as he commanded me. The breath entered them and they came alive! They stood up on their feet, a huge army.

11 Then God said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Listen to what they’re saying: ‘Our bones are dried up, our hope is gone, there’s nothing left of us.’

12-14 “Therefore, prophesy. Tell them, ‘God, the Master, says: I’ll dig up your graves and bring you out alive—O my people! Then I’ll take you straight to the land of Israel. When I dig up graves and bring you out as my people, you’ll realize that I am God. I’ll breathe my life into you and you’ll live. Then I’ll lead you straight back to your land and you’ll realize that I am God. I’ve said it and I’ll do it. God’s Decree.’”

15-17 God’s Message came to me: “You, son of man: Take a stick and write on it, ‘For Judah, with his Israelite companions.’ Then take another stick and write on it, ‘For Joseph—Ephraim’s stick, together with all his Israelite companions.’ Then tie the two sticks together so that you’re holding one stick.

18-19 “When your people ask you, ‘Are you going to tell us what you’re doing?’ tell them, ‘God, the Master, says, Watch me! I’ll take the Joseph stick that is in Ephraim’s hand, with the tribes of Israel connected with him, and lay the Judah stick on it. I’ll make them into one stick. I’m holding one stick.’

20-24 “Then take the sticks you’ve inscribed and hold them up so the people can see them. Tell them, ‘God, the Master, says, Watch me! I’m taking the Israelites out of the nations in which they’ve been exiled. I’ll gather them in from all directions and bring them back home. I’ll make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel, and give them one king—one king over all of them. Never again will they be divided into two nations, two kingdoms. Never again will they pollute their lives with their no-god idols and all those vile obscenities and rebellions. I’ll save them out of all their old sinful haunts. I’ll clean them up. They’ll be my people! I’ll be their God! My servant David will be king over them. They’ll all be under one shepherd.

24-27 “‘They’ll follow my laws and keep my statutes. They’ll live in the same land I gave my servant Jacob, the land where your ancestors lived. They and their children and their grandchildren will live there forever, and my servant David will be their prince forever. I’ll make a covenant of peace with them that will hold everything together, an everlasting covenant. I’ll make them secure and place my holy place of worship at the center of their lives forever. I’ll live right there with them. I’ll be their God! They’ll be my people!

28 “‘The nations will realize that I, God, make Israel holy when my holy place of worship is established at the center of their lives forever.’”

Exodus 19:4
Verse Concepts
‘You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings, and brought you to Myself.

Psalm 91:11-12
For He will give His angels charge concerning you, To guard you in all your ways. They will bear you up in their hands, That you do not strike your foot against a stone.

Psalm 28:9

Save Your people and bless Your inheritance; Be their shepherd also, and carry them forever.

Revelation 17:3

And he carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness; and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast, full of blasphemous names, having seven heads and ten horns.

Revelation 21:10

And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God,

Isaiah 46:4

Even to your old age and gray hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you.

for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. 18 For he who serves Christ in these things[a] is acceptable to God and approved by men.

To the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be his holy people, together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ–their Lord and ours:

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

I Am Coming Quickly
20 He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming quickly.”

Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus!

21 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.[m] Amen.

]]>https://paulstatchen.wordpress.com/2016/03/30/2449/feed/0paulstatchenHe is despised and rejected by men, A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted.https://paulstatchen.wordpress.com/2016/03/30/2399/
https://paulstatchen.wordpress.com/2016/03/30/2399/#respondWed, 30 Mar 2016 20:36:51 +0000http://paulstatchen.wordpress.com/?p=2399was the internet made because man is hiding from GOD?

3 He is despised and rejected by men,
A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him;
He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
4 Surely He has borne our griefs
And carried our sorrows;
Yet we esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten by God, and afflicted.

Matt Maher – Turn Around
Young man on the side of the road
Lost and beat up with no where to go
Smells like a hangover from days ago
He does what he can to survive

Single mom with a dead end job
Ninety hour week just to keep what she’s got
With the bills that add up and down she’s caught
She does what she can to survive

Well, let me say
That love won’t take away the pain
But don’t be afraid
‘Cause it will never walk away

(Chorus)
If you’re scared that you don’t matter
If you’re lost and need to be found
If you’re looking for a Savior
All you gotta do is turn around

Some turn to a bottle
Some turn to a drug
Some turn to another’s arms
But it seems like it’s never enough

Well I won’t say, that you will ever fail again
But there is grace
To wash away your every sin

Chorus

No one listens to you anymore
And your heart has broken down
You don’t need to move
Love has come to you
All you gotta do is turn around
All you gotta do is turn around
Turn around

You don’t have to take the broken road
You can turn around and come back home
(X3)

Chorus

No one listens to you anymore
And your heart has broken down
You don’t need to move
Love has come to you
All you gotta do is turn around
All you gotta do is turn around

Oh, give thanks to the Lord!
Call upon His name;
Make known His deeds among the peoples!
9 Sing to Him, sing psalms to Him;
Talk of all His wondrous works!
10 Glory in His holy name;
Let the hearts of those rejoice who seek the Lord!
11 Seek the Lord and His strength;
Seek His face evermore!
12 Remember His marvelous works which He has done,
His wonders, and the judgments of His mouth,
13 O seed of Israel His servant,
You children of Jacob, His chosen ones!
14 He is the Lord our God;
His judgments are in all the earth.
15 Remember His covenant forever,
The word which He commanded, for a thousand generations,
16 The covenant which He made with Abraham,
And His oath to Isaac,
17 And confirmed it to Jacob for a statute,
To Israel for an everlasting covenant,
18 Saying, “To you I will give the land of Canaan
As the allotment of your inheritance,”
19 When you were few in number,
Indeed very few, and strangers in it.
20 When they went from one nation to another,
And from one kingdom to another people,
21 He permitted no man to do them wrong;
Yes, He rebuked kings for their sakes,
22 Saying, “Do not touch My anointed ones,
And do My prophets no harm.”[a]
23 Sing to the Lord, all the earth;
Proclaim the good news of His salvation from day to day.
24 Declare His glory among the nations,
His wonders among all peoples.
25 For the Lord is great and greatly to be praised;
He is also to be feared above all gods.
26 For all the gods of the peoples are idols,
But the Lord made the heavens.
27 Honor and majesty are before Him;
Strength and gladness are in His place.
28 Give to the Lord, O families of the peoples,
Give to the Lord glory and strength.
29 Give to the Lord the glory due His name;
Bring an offering, and come before Him.
Oh, worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness!
30 Tremble before Him, all the earth.
The world also is firmly established,
It shall not be moved.
31 Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad;
And let them say among the nations, “The Lord reigns.”
32 Let the sea roar, and all its fullness;
Let the field rejoice, and all that is in it.
33 Then the trees of the woods shall rejoice before the Lord,
For He is coming to judge the earth.[b]
34 Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good!
For His mercy endures forever.[c]
35 And say, “Save us, O God of our salvation;
Gather us together, and deliver us from the Gentiles,
To give thanks to Your holy name,
To triumph in Your praise.”
36 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel
From everlasting to everlasting![d]

Psalm 39

I said, “I will watch my waysand keep my tongue from sin;I will put a muzzle on my mouthwhile in the presence of the wicked.”2 So I remained utterly silent,not even saying anything good.But my anguishincreased;3 my heart grew hotwithin me.While I meditated,the fireburned;then I spoke with my tongue:

4 “Show me,Lord, my life’s endand the number of my days;let me know how fleetingmy life is.5 You have made my daysa mere handbreadth;the span of my years is as nothing before you.Everyone is but a breath,even those who seem secure.[b]

7 “But now, Lord, what do I look for?My hope is in you.8 Save mefrom all my transgressions;do not make me the scornof fools.9 I was silent;I would not open my mouth,for you are the one who has done this.10 Remove your scourge from me;I am overcome by the blowof your hand.11 When you rebukeand disciplineanyone for their sin,you consumetheir wealth like a moth—surely everyone is but a breath.

12 “Hear my prayer,Lord,listen to my cry for help;do not be deafto my weeping.I dwell with you as a foreigner,a stranger,as all my ancestors were.13 Look away from me, that I may enjoy life againbefore I depart and am no more.”

Psalm 77

I cried out to Godfor help;I cried out to God to hear me.2 When I was in distress,I sought the Lord;at nightI stretched out untiring hands,and I would not be comforted.

3 I rememberedyou, God, and I groaned;I meditated, and my spirit grew faint.[b]4 You kept my eyes from closing;I was too troubled to speak.5 I thought about the former days,the years of long ago;6 I remembered my songs in the night.My heart meditated and my spirit asked:

7 “Will the Lord reject forever?Will he never show his favoragain?8 Has his unfailing lovevanished forever?Has his promisefailed for all time?9 Has God forgotten to be merciful?Has he in anger withheld his compassion?”

10 Then I thought, “To this I will appeal:the years when the Most High stretched out his right hand.11 I will remember the deeds of theLord;yes, I will remember your miraclesof long ago.12 I will considerall your worksand meditate on all your mighty deeds.”

13 Your ways, God, are holy.What god is as great as our God?14 You are the God who performs miracles;you display your power among the peoples.15 With your mighty arm you redeemed your people,the descendants of Jacob and Joseph.

16 The waterssaw you, God,the waters saw you and writhed;the very depths were convulsed.17 The clouds poured down water,the heavens resounded with thunder;your arrowsflashed back and forth.18 Your thunder was heard in the whirlwind,your lightninglit up the world;the earth trembled and quaked.19 Your pathled through the sea,your way through the mighty waters,though your footprints were not seen.

20 You led your peoplelike a flockby the hand of Moses and Aaron.

Psalm 88

OLord, God of my salvation,I have cried out day and night before You.2 Let my prayer come before You;Incline Your ear to my cry.

3 For my soul is full of troubles,And my life draws near to the grave.4 I am counted with those who go down to the pit;I am like a manwho hasno strength,5 Adrift among the dead,Like the slain who lie in the grave,Whom You remember no more,And who are cut off from Your hand.

6 You have laid me in the lowest pit,In darkness, in the depths.7 Your wrath lies heavy upon me,And You have afflictedmewith all Your waves.Selah8 You have put away my acquaintances far from me;You have made me an abomination to them;I amshut up, and I cannot get out;9 My eye wastes away because of affliction.

Lord, I have called daily upon You;I have stretched out my hands to You.10 Will You work wonders for the dead?Shall the dead ariseandpraise You?Selah11 Shall Your lovingkindness be declared in the grave?OrYour faithfulness in the place of destruction?12 Shall Your wonders be known in the dark?And Your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?

13 But to You I have cried out, OLord,And in the morning my prayer comes before You.14 Lord, why do You cast off my soul?Whydo You hide Your face from me?15 Ihave beenafflicted and ready to die frommyyouth;I suffer Your terrors;I am distraught.16 Your fierce wrath has gone over me;Your terrors have cut me off.17 They came around me all day long like water;They engulfed me altogether.18 Loved one and friend You have put far from me,Andmy acquaintances into darkness.

and with them Heman and Jeduthun and the rest who were chosen, who were designated by name, to give thanks to theLord, because His mercyenduresforever

John 1:5– And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.

1 John 1:5-7– This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.

John 11:10– But if a man walk in the night, he stumbleth, because there is no light in him.

Acts 26:18– To open their eyes, [and] to turn [them] from darkness to light, and [from] the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.

Luke 1:79– To give light to them that sit in darkness and [in] the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.

John 3:19-21– And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.

1 Thessalonians 5:5– Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.

Colossians 1:13– Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated [us] into the kingdom of his dear Son:

John 8:12– Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.

2 Corinthians 6:14– Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?

Ephesians 5:8– For ye were sometimes darkness, but now [are ye] light in the Lord: walk as children of light:

1 John 2:8-11– Again, a new commandment I write unto you, which thing is true in him and in you: because the darkness is past, and the true light now shineth.

Ephesians 6:12– For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high [places].

Christ Our Peace

14 For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation,15 having abolished in His flesh the enmity,that is,the law of commandmentscontainedin ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new manfromthe two,thusmaking peace,16 and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity.17 And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near.18 For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father.

16 “Thisisthe covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them,”[c]17 then He adds,“Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.”[d]18 Now where there is remission of these,there isno longer an offering for sin.

3 When I kept silent, my bones grew oldThrough my groaning all the day long.4 For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me;My vitality was turned into the drought of summer.Selah5 I acknowledged my sin to You,And my iniquity I have not hidden.I said, “I will confess my transgressions to theLord,”And You forgave the iniquity of my sin.Selah

6 For this cause everyone who is godly shall pray to YouIn a time when You may be found;Surely in a flood of great watersThey shall not come near him.7 Youaremy hiding place;You shall preserve me from trouble;You shall surround me with songs of deliverance.Selah

8 I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;I will guide you with My eye.9 Do not be like the horseorlike the mule,Whichhave no understanding,Which must be harnessed with bit and bridle,Else they will not come near you.

10 Many sorrowsshall beto the wicked;But he who trusts in theLord, mercy shall surround him.11 Be glad in theLordand rejoice, you righteous;And shout for joy, allyouupright in heart!

does your technology and money free you? from who?
does your knowledge of the “world” and privledge and status free you? from what? how do we think we free ourselves…? is a measure of freedom from us or others?
if from others who am i by that measure from others? am i free to even know? are you?

my “sin” your “sin” in our hearts are labeled(branded) then exchanged on a “money market” in a world of human will designed “for profit” in money?who could ever know what money is?

There are six things that theLordhates, seven that are an abomination to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers.

But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth.

The real menace of our Republic is the invisible government which like a giant octopus sprawls its slimy legs over our cities and nation.
At the head is a small group of banking houses generally referred to as “international bankers”.
This little coterie … run our government for their own selfish ends.
It operates under cover of a self-created screen…[and] seizes…our executive orders…our legislative bodies…schools…courts…newspapers and every agency created for public protection.

John F Hylan

For whereyour treasure is, there willyour heartbe also. The World English Bible translates the passage as: for whereyour treasure is, thereyour heartwill be also. In the previous two verses Jesus explained why one should store one’streasurein heaven rather than on earth.

Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers, not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God. Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? …

Jeremiah 17:9King James Version (KJV)

9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?

A soft answer turns away wrath,buta harsh word stirs up anger.2 The tongue of the wise commends knowledge,butthe mouths of fools pour out folly.3 The eyes of theLordare in every place,keeping watch on the evil and the good.4 A gentle[a]tongue isa tree of life,butperverseness in it breaks the spirit.5 A fooldespises his father’s instruction,butwhoever heeds reproof is prudent.6 In the house of the righteous there is much treasure,but trouble befalls the income of the wicked.7 The lips of the wise spread knowledge;not so the hearts of fools.[b]8 The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to theLord,butthe prayer of the upright is acceptable to him.9 The way of the wicked is an abomination to theLord,but he loves himwho pursues righteousness.10 There issevere discipline for him who forsakes the way;whoever hates reproof will die.11 Sheol and Abaddon lie open before theLord;how much morethe hearts of the children of man!12 A scofferdoes not like to be reproved;he will not go to the wise.13 A glad heart makes a cheerful face,but bysorrow of heart the spirit iscrushed.14 The heart of him who has understanding seeks knowledge,but the mouths of fools feed on folly.15 All the days of the afflicted are evil,butthe cheerful of heart has a continual feast.16 Better is a little with the fear of theLordthan great treasure and trouble with it.17 Better is a dinner of herbs where love isthana fattened ox and hatred with it.18 A hot-tempered manstirs up strife,but he who isslow to anger quiets contention.19 The way ofa sluggard is like a hedge ofthorns,but the path of the upright isa level highway.20 A wise son makes a glad father,but a foolish man despises his mother.21 Folly is a joy to him who lacks sense,but a man of understandingwalks straight ahead.22 Without counsel plans fail,but with many advisers they succeed.23 To make an apt answer is a joy to a man,anda word in season, how good it is!24 The path of life leads upwardfor the prudent,that he may turn away from Sheol beneath.25 TheLordtears down the house ofthe proudbutmaintainsthe widow’s boundaries.26 The thoughts of the wicked are an abomination to theLord,butgracious words are pure.27 Whoever isgreedy for unjust gaintroubles his own household,but he who hatesbribes will live.28 The heart of the righteousponders how to answer,butthe mouth of the wicked pours out evil things.29 TheLordisfar from the wicked,but hehears the prayer of the righteous.30 The light of the eyes rejoices the heart,andgood news refreshes[c]the bones.31 The ear that listens tolife-giving reproofwill dwell among the wise.32 Whoeverignores instructiondespises himself,but he who listens to reproofgains intelligence.33 The fear of theLordis instruction in wisdom,andhumility comes before honor.

who owns us or the secrets of sin? who owns the evidence of sin? who owns us if we are slaves to sin?

who owns us when we find ourselves in a “machine” called civilization?

who owns civilizations?

So in the Baptists’ Philadelphian Confession of Faith, 1742,we read, “Man, by his fall into a state of sin, hath wholly lostall ability of willto any spiritual good accompanying salvation; so as a natural man, being altogether averse from good, and dead in sin, is not able by his own strength to convert himself, or to prepare himself thereunto”

To fleshly wisdom it appears the height of folly to preach the Gospel to those that aredead,and thereforebeyondthe reach of doing anything themselves. Yes, but God’s ways are different from ours. It pleases God “by thefoolishness of preachingto save them that believe” (1 Cor. 1:21). Man may deem it folly to prophesy to “dead bones“and to say unto them, “O, ye dry bones, hear the Word of the Lord” (Ezek. 37:4). Ah! but then it is the Wordof the Lord,and the words He speaks “they are spirit,and they are life” (John 6:63). Wise men standing by the grave of Lazarus might pronounce it an evidence of insanity when the Lord addressed adeadman with the words, “Lazarus, Come forth.” Ah! but He who thus spake was and is Himself the Resurrection and the Life, and atHisword even the dead live! We go forth to preach the Gospel, then, not because we believe that sinners have within themselves the power to receive the Saviour it proclaims, but because the Gospel itselfis the power of God untosalvation to everyone that believeth, and because we know that “as many as were ordained to eternal life” (Acts 13:48),shallbelieve (John 6:37; 10:16—note the “shall’s”!) in God’s appointed time, for it is written, “Thy peopleshallbe willing in the day ofThypower” (Ps. 110:3)!

A List of Sins from the Bible

The Bible says that sin has separated us from God. What are the sins listed in the Bible?

What is Sin?

Sin is the transgression of the Law of God (1 John 3:4) as John writes “Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness.”We are all sinners, even those who have been saved as Paul says “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom3:23) and “the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom6:23). Isaiah writes “your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.”The good news is that “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom 5:8) and “while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son” (Rom 5:11a). Jesus solved our sin problem by becoming sin for us so that for those who have repented and trusted in Him can be seen as having the same righteousness as Christ does (2 Cor5:21) but if not, we still have the wrath of God on us (John 3:18b, 3:36b).

All Sins Fit under the Ten Commandments

There are almost one hundred and twenty-five sins listed in the Bible so I thought it might be useful to show why God gave us the Ten Commandments as a standard by which to live. Of course no one can keep the Ten Commandments but even though it’s not humanly possible, this doesn’t give us an excuse to break them so what I have done below is to list the Ten Commandments and what sins fall under each of these sins. It should be noted that many of these sins could be placed under more than one of the Ten Commandments but in order to see where the biblical list of sins fall, I think it best to list almost all of the sins given in the Bible under each of the Ten Commandments because if we were able to keep the Ten Commandments, none of the sins would be broken so here is a list of the Ten Commandments and the sins which they fall under each one. There is no doubt that since there are so many sins listed in the Bible, some might be inadvertently missed while others may be repeated since they fall into the differing commandments.

The Second Commandment: You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.

The Third Commandment: You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain, irreverent use of God’s Word

Cursing, swearing, blaspheming, breaking oath taken in God’s name, irreverent use of God’s name in humor, speaking evil of the church, taking communion or the Lord’s Supper in a careless manner or unworthily, anger at God, careless use of God’s name, euphemisms like “geez, gosh, oh my God” etc.

The Fourth Commandment: Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

Sloth, laziness, neglecting to assemble with the saints, profaning worship service, fighting or speaking evil of Christian brothers or sisters.

The Fifth Commandment: Honor your father and your mother, breaking civil laws when taught by parents to do obey the laws, failing to take care of aged parents, failing to take care of sick parents, fighting with and/or speaking evil about siblings, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.

Cursing father or mother, dishonoring parents, striking or fighting with parents, disobeying parents, making fun of parents, filthy talk, speaking evil or badly of parents, and grandparents included in the aforementioned things.

The Tenth Commandment: You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.

For the law, having a shadow of the good things to come,andnot the very image of the things, can never with these same sacrifices, which they offer continually year by year, make those who approach perfect.2 For then would they not have ceased to be offered? For the worshipers, once purified, would have had no more consciousness of sins.3 But in thosesacrifices there isa reminder of sins every year.4 Forit isnot possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins.

What is the Will? We answer, the will is the faculty of choice, the immediate cause of all action. Choice necessarily implies the refusal of one thing and the acceptance of another. The positive and the negative must both be present to the mind before there can be any choice. In every act of the will there is a preference—the desiring of one thing rather than another. Where there is no preference, but complete indifference, there is no volition. To will is to choose, and to choose is to decide between two or more alternatives. But there is something whichinfluencesthe choice; something whichdeterminesthe decision. Hence the will cannot be sovereign because it is the servant of that something. The will cannot be both sovereign and servant. It cannot be both cause and effect. The willis not causative,because, as we have said, something causes itto choose,therefore that something must be the causative agent. Choice itself is affected by certain considerations, is determined by various influences brought to bearupon the individual himself,hence, volition is the effect of these considerations and influences, and if the effect, it must be theirservant;and if the will is their servant then it is not sovereign, and if the will isnotsovereign, we certainly cannot predicate absolute “freedom” of it. Acts of the will cannot come to pass of themselves—to say they can, is to postulate anuncausedeffect.Ex nihilo nihil fit—nothing cannot produce something.

Unlike non-profit organizations the policies of these organizations are usually profit oriented. Managers(corporate employees) here have a profit oriented mindset and aim at maximising the revenue of the firm which in turn contributes to the dividends (in case of public limited) or profits of the shareholders/owners.[4]Their aim can be accompanied by a goal of serving the society however that usually happens in cases of B-corporations(Discussed Later).

Usury(/ˈjuːʒəri/[1][2]) is, today, the practice of making unethical or immoral monetaryloansthat unfairly enrich the lender. Originally, usury meantinterestof any kind. A loan may be considered usurious because of excessive or abusiveinterest ratesor other factors. Historically in Christian societies, and in many Islamic societies today, charging any interest at all can be considered usury.[3][4][5]Someone who practices usury can be called ausurer, but a more common term in contemporary English isloan shark.

The term may be used in a moral sense—condemning taking advantage of others’ misfortunes—or in a legal sense where interest rates may be regulated by law. Historically, some cultures (e.g.,Christianityin much of Medieval Europe, andIslamin many parts of the world today) have regarded charging any interest for loans as sinful.

Some of the earliest known condemnations of usury come from theVedic textsof India.[6]Similar condemnations are found in religious texts from Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam (the term isribainArabicandribbitinHebrew).[7]At times, many nations from ancient China to ancient Greece to ancient Rome have outlawed loans with any interest. Though the Roman Empire eventually allowed loans with carefully restricted interest rates, the Christian church in medieval Europe banned the charging of interest at any rate (as well as charging a fee for the use of money, such as at abureau de change).

Two of the most important characteristics of good design are discoverability and understanding. Discoverability: Is it possible to even figure out what actions are possible and where and how to perform them? Understanding: What does it all mean? How is the product supposed to be used? What do all the different controls and settings mean?

is the world capitalising on “sins” thru “laws” and “culturual dogmas” to “enslave the others”… then own them forever in a market run?to make it “sustianable”?using money to “clean” themsleves from how they got it? who then could ever talk about it? who would?who wouldn’t?

Amarket runorrun on the marketoccurs when consumers increase purchasing of a particular product because they fear ashortage. As a market run progresses, it generates its own momentum: as more people demand the item, thesupply linebecomes unable to keep up. This causes a local shortage, which in turn encourages further hoarding.

John 9:31b “…but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him.”

Mark 3:35 “For whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother.”

Romans 12:2 “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

Galatians 1:4 “…who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father…”

I Thessalonians 5:8 “…give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”

I Peter 2:15 “For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people.”

I John 2:17 “And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.”

He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.

Infinance, abinary optionis a type ofoptionin which the payoff can take only two possible outcomes, either some fixed monetary amount (or a precise predefined quantity or units of some asset) or nothing at all (in contrast to ordinary financial options that typically have a continuous spectrum of payoff). The two main types of binary options are the cash-or-nothing binary option and the asset-or-nothing binary option. The cash-or-nothing binary option pays some fixed amount of cash if the option expires in-the-money while the asset-or-nothing pays the value of the underlying security. They are also calledall-or-nothing options,digital options(more common in forex/interest rate markets), andfixed return options(FROs) (on theAmerican Stock Exchange)

Binary bettingis a type offinancial bettingwhich displays the price of abetas an odds index from 0 to 100 where the bet settles at 100 if an event happens and 0 if it does not.[1]The greater the likelihood of an event happening the higher this price will be. A price of 91-93, for example, suggests the betting broker which offers the bet believes the event has a 92% likelihood of happening. An event can be bought or sold, making it possible to profit both from the event occurring or not occurring. A bettor who thinks that the event will occur will buy the bet and a bettor who thinks the event won’t occur will sell the bet. An event could be for example, the “FTSEto close 11 points higher by midday”, “the FTSE will end higher on the day”, “Brent Oilwill close between 50 and 60 cents lower” and so on.

are we all sold as a “drug” in a global ellite “smokeout”rooms till all the humans and all life in a psychopathic fly it till the wheels/wings fall off…. crash and burn? has this happen over and over before?is it expected in a “healthy economy”?

Two Treatisesis divided into theFirst Treatiseand theSecond Treatise. The original title of theSecond Treatiseappears to have been simply “Book II,” corresponding to the title of theFirst Treatise, “Book I.” Before publication, however, Locke gave it greater prominence by (hastily) inserting a separate title page: “An Essay Concerning the True Original, Extent and End of Civil Government.”[10]TheFirst Treatiseis focused on the refutation ofSir Robert Filmer, in particular hisPatriarcha, which argued that civil society was founded on a divinely sanctioned patriarchalism. Locke proceeds through Filmer’s arguments, contesting his proofs fromScriptureand ridiculing them as senseless, until concluding party no government can be justified by an appeal to thedivine right of kings.

As justice gives every man a title to the product of his honest industry, and the fair acquisitions of his ancestors descended to him; so charity gives every man a title to so much out of another’s plenty as will keep him from extreme want, where he has no means to subsist otherwise: and a man can no more justly make use of another’s necessity to force him to become his vassal, by withholding that relief God requires him to afford to the wants of his brother, than he that has more strength can seize upon the weaker, master him to his obedience, and with a dagger at his throat offer him death or slavery.

Cry out, “Save us, God our Savior; gather us and deliver us from the nations, that we may give thanks to your holy name, and glory in your praise.”

For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.

1 Corinthians 13:4-8New International Version (NIV)

4 Love is patient,love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking,it is not easily angered,it keeps no record of wrongs.6 Love does not delight in evilbut rejoices with the truth.7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies,they will cease; where there are tongues,they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.

Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. read more.Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

“If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don’t Love, I’m nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate. If I speak God’s word with power, revealing all of his mysteries and making everything as plain as day, and if I have Faith to say to a mountain “jump” and it jumps, but I don’t Love, I’m nothing.
If I give all I own to the poor or even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but don’t Love, I’ve gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe and what I do, I’m bankrupt without Love.” (1st Corinthians 13: 1-3)

Praise be to the LORD, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting. Then all the people said “Amen” and “Praise the LORD.”

]]>https://paulstatchen.wordpress.com/2016/03/29/2338/feed/0paulstatchenAnd yet I will show you the most excellent way.https://paulstatchen.wordpress.com/2016/03/29/2285/
https://paulstatchen.wordpress.com/2016/03/29/2285/#respondTue, 29 Mar 2016 18:03:52 +0000http://paulstatchen.wordpress.com/?p=22854 There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spiritdistributes them.5 There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord.6 There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyoneit is the same Godat work.

Unity and Diversity in the Body

12 Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body,so it is with Christ.13 For we were all baptizedby[c]one Spiritso as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.14 Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.

15 Now if the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body.16 And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body.17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be?18 But in fact God has placedthe parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be.19 If they were all one part, where would the body be?20 As it is, there are many parts, but one body.

21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!”22 On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable,23 and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty,24 while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it,25 so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other.26 If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.

27 Now you are the body of Christ,and each one of you is a part of it.28 And God has placed in the churchfirst of all apostles,second prophets,third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing,of helping, of guidance,and of different kinds of tongues.29 Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles?30 Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues[d]?Do all interpret?31 Now eagerly desirethe greater gifts.

I COULD IDENTIFY ASdemi-romantic, demi-sexual, cisgender, non-monogamous and pan-erotic. Or I could just identify as myself. However, it seems that finding new words for expressing people’s sexual, romantic, and gender-oriented identities has become something of national interest, at least here in the United States. Thank Caitlyn Jenner for driving it into the mainstream, but it’s been broadcast via online media now for years. Many of its online champions are also decidedly different from one another and notably un-Caitlynesque, indicating that the movement to significantly shift our perspective on sexuality, romance, and gender is both nuanced and far-reaching, and spans diverse financial and sociopolitical groups that color the issue with shades of their own preexisting ideologies.

The book is split into three parts: • Global ‘sex’ wars – discusses the notion of sexualities, its political landscapes internationally, and the return of religious fervour and extremism. • Epistemological challenges and research agendas – examines modern ‘scientific’ understandings of sexuality, its history and the way in which HIV and AIDS have drawn attention to sexuality. • The promises and limits of sexual rights – discusses human rights approaches to sexuality, its strengths and limitations and new ways of imagining erotic justice.

Let’s start with guilt: not only is it unhealthy, it’s unbiblical. Jesus calls us to lofty goals of love and compassion, yes, but never the burden of guilt. In Matthew 11: 28-30, Jesus frees us from the burdens we place upon ourselves and others: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

wonder what how farming and rest has to do with “peace” in a virtual water and cyberwarfare global war context?

The water footprint shows the extent of water use in relation to consumption of people. The water footprint of a country is defined as the volume of water needed for the production of the goods and services consumed by the inhabitants of the country. The internal water footprint is the volume of water used from domestic water resources; the external water footprint is the volume of water used in other countries to produce goods and services imported and consumed by the inhabitants of the country. The study calculates the water footprint for each nation of the world for the period 1997–2001. The USA appears to have an average water footprint of 2480 m3/cap/yr, while China has an average footprint of 700 m3/cap/yr. The global average water footprint is 1240 m3/cap/yr. The four major direct factors determining the water footprint of a country are: volume of consumption (related to the gross national income); consumption pattern (e.g. high versus low meat consumption); climate (growth conditions); and agricultural practice (water use efficiency).

Those in agriculture are very aware of the cyclical nature of farm profitability and, unfortunately, we’ve entered the challenging phase of the hike. Taking some time to really focus on improving your farm’s financial footing will help ensure that you are positioned to participate in the better financial times likely to come at some point in the future. By sticking to the basics, you can get by – and even prosper – in the future.

The concept of virtual water was first introduced by Allan (1996) to quantify the water required in the production process of an agricultural commodity. This water is embedded in the commodity. Allan (1998) extended the principle of virtual water to other commodities and services by quantifying the water required in the production of these commodities or services.

Virtual water trade(also known as trade in embedded or embodied water) refers to the hidden flow of water if food or othercommoditiesaretradedfrom one place to another. For instance, it takes 1,600 cubic meters of water on average toproduceone metric tonne ofwheat. The precise volume can be more or less depending on climatic conditions andagriculturalpractice. Hoekstra and Chapagain have defined the virtual-water content of a product (a commodity, good or service) as “the volume offreshwaterused to produce the product, measured at the place where the product was actually produced”.[1]It refers to the sum of the water use in the various steps of the production chain.

Cyberwarfarehas been defined as “actions by a nation-state to penetrate another nation’s computers or networks for the purposes of causing damage or disruption,”[1]:6but other definitions also include non-state actors, such as terrorist groups, companies, political or ideological extremist groups,hacktivists, and transnational criminal organizations.

everyone is part of th e”global warfare” thru money? who but God could be the Healer of that “psychopathy”?

A negative externality is a cost that is suffered by athird partyas a result of an economic transaction. In a transaction, the producer and consumer are the first and second parties, and third parties include any individual, organisation, property owner, or resource that is indirectly affected.

A positive externality is a benefit that is enjoyed by a third-party as a result of an economic transaction. Third-parties include any individual, organisation, property owner, or resource that is indirectly affected. While individuals who benefit from positive externalities without paying are considered to be free-riders, it may be in the interests of society to encourage free-riders to consume goods which generate substantial external benefits.

Ineconomics, anexternalityis the cost or benefit that affects a party who did not choose to incur that cost or benefit.[1]Economists often urge governments to adopt policies that “internalize” an externality, so that costs and benefits will affect mainly parties who choose to incur them.[2]

For example, manufacturing activities that causeair pollutionimpose health and clean-up costs on the whole society, whereas the neighbors of an individual who chooses to fire-proof his home may benefit from a reduced risk of a fire spreading to their own houses. If external costs exist, such aspollution, the producer may choose to produce more of the product than would be produced if the producer were required to pay all associated environmental costs. Because responsibility or consequence for self-directed action lies partly outside the self, an element ofexternalizationis involved. If there are external benefits, such as inpublic safety, less of the good may be produced than would be the case if the producer were to receive payment for the external benefits to others. For the purpose of these statements, overall cost and benefit to society is defined as the sum of the imputed monetary value of benefits and costs to all parties involved.[3][4]Thus, unregulatedmarketsin goods or services with significant externalities generatepricesthat do not reflect the fullsocial costor benefit of their transactions; such markets are thereforeinefficient.

Light pollutionis an example of an externality because the consumption of street lighting has an effect on bystanders that is not compensated for by the consumers of the lighting.

Anegative externality(also called “external cost” or “external diseconomy”) is an economic activity that imposes a negative effect on an unrelated third party. It can arise either during the production or the consumption of a good or service.[6]Barry Commonercommented on the costs of externalities:

Clearly, we have compiled a record of serious failures in recent technological encounters with the environment. In each case, the new technology was brought into use before the ultimate hazards were known. We have been quick to reap the benefits and slow to comprehend the costs(Quoted from[7]).

Many negative externalities are related to the environmental consequences of production and use. The article onenvironmental economicsalso addresses externalities and how they may be addressed in the context of environmental issues.

Examples fornegative production externalitiesinclude:

Air pollutionfrom burning fossil fuels. This activity causes damages to crops, (historic) buildings and public health.[8][9]

Negative effects ofIndustrial farm animal production, including “the increase in the pool of antibiotic-resistant bacteria because of theoveruse of antibiotics; air quality problems; the contamination of rivers, streams, and coastal waters with concentrated animal waste; animal welfare problems, mainly as a result of the extremely close quarters in which the animals are housed.”[13][14]

In the United States, the cost of storingnuclear wastefromnuclear plantsfor more than 1,000 years (over 100,000 for some types of nuclear waste) is, in principle, included in the cost of the electricity the plant produces in the form of a fee paid to the government and held in thenuclear waste superfund, although much of that fund was spent on Yucca Mountain without producing a solution. Conversely, the costs of managing the long term risks of disposal of chemicals, which may remain hazardous on similar time scales, is not commonly internalized in prices. The USEPA regulates chemicals for periods ranging from 100 years to a maximum of 10,000 years.

Examples ofnegative consumption externalitiesinclude:

Sleep deprivation due to a neighbor listening to loud music late at night.

Antibiotic resistance, caused by increased usage of antibiotics. Individuals do not consider this efficacy cost when making usage decisions. Government policies proposed to preserve future antibiotic effectiveness include educational campaigns, regulation,Pigouvian taxes, and patents.

Shared costs of declining health and vitality caused by smoking and/or alcohol abuse. Here, the “cost” is that of providing minimum social welfare. Economists more frequently attribute this problem to the category ofmoral hazards, the prospect that parties insulated from risk may behave differently from the way they would if they were fully exposed to the risk. For example, individuals with insurance against automobile theft may be less vigilant about locking their cars, because the negative consequences of automobile theft are (partially) borne by the insurance company.

Higher congestion costs and increased accident risks when people use public roads.[15]

Consumption by one consumer causes prices to rise and therefore makes other consumers worse off, perhaps by reducing their consumption. These effects are sometimes called “pecuniary externalities” and are distinguished from “real externalities” or “technological externalities”. Pecuniary externalities appear to be externalities, but occur within the market mechanism and are not considered to be a source ofmarket failureor inefficiency, although they may still result in substantial harm to others.[16]

CITIES USED TOgrow by accident. Sure, the location usually made sense—someplace defensible, on a hill or an island, or somewhere near an extractable resource or the confluence of two transport routes. But what happened next was ad hoc. The people who worked in the fort or the mines or the port or the warehouses needed places to eat, to sleep, to worship. Infrastructure threaded through the hustle and bustle—water, sewage, roads, trolleys, gas, electricity—in vast networks of improvisation. You can find planned exceptions: Alexandria, Roman colonial towns, certain districts in major Chinese cities, Haussmann’s Paris. But for the most part it was happenstance, luck, and layering the new on top of the old.

The Political Externalities of Open Borders

are we heading toward a “global economics of telepathy technology”?what part are hackers playing? how does relationship with money effect its progress?what is “to question money” in a “telepathy economy”?

Pasley says the technology is available to turn this idea into a reality. “The implants transmit the recorded signals to a decoder that converts the signals into movement commands, or in our case, speech.” He wants to develop safe, wireless, implantable interfaces for long-term use.

When you read this sentence to yourself, it’s likely that you hear the words in your head. Now, in what amounts to technological telepathy, others are on the verge of being able to hear your inner dialogue too. By peering inside the brain, it is possible to reconstruct speech from the activity that takes place when we hear someone talking.

Because this brain activity is thought to be similar whether we hear a sentence or think the same sentence, the discovery brings us a step closer to broadcasting our inner thoughts to the world without speaking. The implications are enormous – people made mute through paralysis or locked-in syndrome could regain their voice. It might even be possible to read someone’s mind.

Imagine a musician watching a piano being played with no sound, saysBrian Pasleyat the University of California, Berkeley. “If a pianist were watching a piano being played on TV with the sound off, they would still be able to work out what the music sounded like because they know what key plays what note,” Pasley says. His team has done something analogous with brain waves, matching neural areas to their corresponding noises.

How the brain converts speech into meaningful information is a bit of a puzzle. The basic idea is that sound activates sensory neurons, which then pass this information to different areas of the brain where various aspects of the sound are extracted and eventually perceived as language. Pasley and colleagues wondered whether they could identify where some of the most vital aspects of speech are extracted by the brain.

The team presented spoken words and sentences to 15 people having surgery for epilepsy or a brain tumour. Electrodes recorded neural activity from the surface of the superior and middle temporal gyri – an area of the brain near the ear that is involved in processing sound. From these recordings, Pasley’s team set about decoding which aspects of speech were related to what kind of brain activity.

Sound is made up of different frequencies which are separated in the brain and processed in different areas. “Simply put, one spot [of neurons] might only care about a frequency range of 1000 hertz and doesn’t care about anything else. Another spot might care about a frequency of 5000 hertz,” says Pasley. “We can look at their activity and identify what frequency they care about. From that we can assume that when that spot’s activity is increasing there was a sound that had that frequency in it.”

You are working on brain-to-brain communication. Can one person’s thoughts ever truly be experienced by another person?

Each brain is different. And while differences in anatomy are relatively easy to account for, differences in function are difficult to characterise. And then we have differences in experience – my idea of flying could be completely unlike your idea of flying, for example. When you think about flying, a bunch of associated experiences come into your mind, competing for your attention. We somehow need to strip away the individual differences to grasp the basic, shared factors.

The idea is to record one person’s brain activity using a non-invasive device such as an EEG, which involves wearing a cap of electrodes. A computer program filters out what is thought to be the relevant brain activity, and this is recreated in another person using transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) – a non-invasive technique that induces an electrical current in their brain.

Do you think it will ever be possible to convey something as rich and personal as emotion or memory in this way?

The technology for implantable devices is becoming available, and at prices that make such systems very cost effective. Three stages of introduction of such devices can be delineated. The earliest adopters will be those with a disability, who will use this as a more powerful prosthetic device.

The next stage, represents the movement from therapy to enhancement, and it is at this point that ethical evaluation becomes imperative. One of the first groups of non-disabled “volunteers” will probably be the professional military, where the use of an implanted computing and communication device with new interfaces to weapons, information, and communications could be lifesaving. The third group of users will probably be those involved in very information intensive businesses, who will use these devices to develop an expanded information transfer capability.

As intelligence or sensory “amplifiers”, the implantable chip will generate at least four benefits:

1) it will increase the dynamic range of senses, enabling, for example, seeing IR, UV, and chemical spectra;

2) it will enhance memory;

3) it will enable “cyberthink” — invisible communication with others when making decisions, and

4) it will enable consistent and constant access to information where and when it is needed. For many these enhancements will produce major improvements in the quality of life, or their survivability, or their performance in a job.

The first prototype devices for these improvements in human functioning should be available in five years, with the military prototypes starting within ten years, and information workers using prototypes within fifteen years; general adoption will take roughly twenty to thirty years.

The brain chip will probably function as a prosthetic cortical implant. The user’s visual cortex will receive stimulation from a computer based either on what a camera sees or based on an artificial “window” interface.

Not every computer scientist views such prospects with equanimity. Michael Dertouzos writes, “even if it would someday be possible to convey such higher-level information to the brain — and that is a huge technical “If” — we should not do it.

Bringing light impulses to the visual cortex of a blind person would justify such an intrusion, but unnecessarily tapping into the brain is a violation of our bodies, of nature, and for many, of God’s design.”

This succinctly formulates the essentialist and creationist argument against the implantable chip. Fears of tampering with human nature are widespread; the theme that nature is good and technology evil, that the power to recreate oneself is overreaching hubris, and that reengineering humanity can only result in disaster, is a familiar response to each new control that man exercises.

The mystique of the natural is fueled by the romantic world view of a benign period when humans lived in harmony with nature. However attractive, it is probable that this vision is faulty inasmuch as man has always used technology to survive, and to enhance life; the use of technology is natural to man. Thus this negative response to the prospect of implantable chips is certainly inadequate, although it points to a need to evaluate the technology in terms of the good or evil possibilities for its use by men, or governments.

The call not to “play God” is also familiar, and suffers from the same difficulties articulated by David Hume. This critique relies on a religious sense that improving on the design of creation insults the Creator. In particular, it proposes that attempts to alter the functioning of the brain for purposes of creating a superior human being can be decried as usurping God’s power. To be persuasive this argument must depend on a restrictive, even for religionists, view of creation, one that sees no role for human creativity.

Brain-machine interface (BMI) technology has finally gotten a taste of mainstream attention in the form of movies likeTranscendenceandEdge of Tomorrow. The silver screen attention is mirrored by the burgeoning startup companies in the BMI space. TheMuse headband is taking the positioning of being a kind of brain-training tool to encourage calmness and tranquility, while the versatileEmotiv BMI aims to allow for telekinetic control control of virtual environments with thoughts and facial expressions.

19. COMPUTERS

Women in computer science have a role model in Grace Hopper. She and Howard Aiken designed Harvard’s Mark I computer, a five-ton, room-sized machine in 1944. Hopper invented the compiler that translated written language into computer code and coined the terms “bug” and “debugging” when she had to remove moths from the device. In 1959, Hopper was part of the team that developed COBOL, one of the first modern programming languages.

Ever since the 1960s, folk music and campus protests have gone together hand in glove. The dulcet harmonies and vapid lyrics of many ’60s folk tunes provided the perfect mood music for the simplistic tantrums that engulfed American universities during that turbulent dec­ade. Take a nostalgic listen sometime to the cringe-worthy lyrics of such songs as “If I Had a Hammer” and “Big Yellow Taxi” to sample the rather callow spirit of the age. It was tempting to hope that the era of such preening lyrical fluff met its end when John Belushi unceremoniously smashed into a wall the folk singer’s guitar in the 1978 movieAnimal House, a statement that seemed to punctuate the demise of folk rock the same way that Disco Dem­olition Night at Chicago’s Comiskey Park spelled the end of disco in 1979. And though popular music continues to evolve, not always for the better, the same hackneyed campus discontent continues to flare up from the embers of the self-indulgent sit-ins and hyperbolic demands of 1960s protest culture, as new generations of impressionable students arrive on campus to fuel the flames of social unrest.

what does it mean to “organize a protest” in a “synthetic telepathy economy”? who owns the data? who owns the tech to decifer it? who owns our soul? is it even a question in an synthetic telelpathy global economy”?

7 Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.8 To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom,to another a message of knowledgeby means of the same Spirit,9 to another faithby the same Spirit, to another gifts of healingby that one Spirit,10 to another miraculous powers,to another prophecy,to another distinguishing between spirits,to another speaking in different kinds of tongues,[a]and to still another the interpretation of tongues.[b]11 All these are the work of one and the same Spirit,and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines.

Leave them; they are blind guides. If the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.”

is this question mor than a question of tech/science vrs faith? is it about how we are honest and how we perceive each other being honest? knowing versus faith? does science ever know in a process toward truch? does faith releigons have definitive truths that people “arugue” or complian over that in front of others “discredit the organized part of it”?